Ascendancy of Her
by secolo.strage
Summary: 1920's. Caroline had a carefully crafted life of being a con of the rich, until she meets Niklaus Mikaelson one night and everything changes. Manipulation, distrust, and control wreck havoc in their battle until they can't fight it anymore.
1. Chapter I

When I was a little girl it was not uncommon for me to be told that I was trouble. They said "Honey, you look sweet as a doll but inside I'm sure there's things that would make the devil cringe." I was ten.

I think, now, they said that because I wasn't raised like everyone else.

Darkness isn't born, it's created. By other darkness, so I guess that's a contradiction if you follow it far enough.

Firstly, I was raised by my mother, and if you knew her that would be more significant to you. But you're lucky, that you didn't know her.

Secondly, I wasn't raised by my mother, and you might know by now that most of my childhood was spent in an orphanage. I was "unlucky", even by the standards of an orphan, because my mom didn't let my hand out of her cold grasp until I was twelve (there had been lots of white powder and sharp objects before the small plates and dirty shoes) and by that time no man or woman or both seeking a child wants one that old, that far into corruption.

So you could say that I grew up with a sense of abandonment, but I would contradict that I grew out of that, like my bangs.

Thirdly, I was raised by the city. This doesn't really say much even for the people who knew my city, but for me it does. My home meant more to me than most people did, and sometimes I feel like it still does. When I was little and needed someone to talk to, not for any dark reasons, simply because my voice was going unused, the city listened. Brick can't run away when you tell it about the inner workings of your mind.

So, from this, you can glimpse some reasoning into why I was perfect for the times. Definitely troubled, "no doubt about that" they would say, partially lonely, not that I was ever alone but physicality doesn't always touch your soul, and a bigger part melancholy, because dark walls and bright people and varying homes don't really make for a Suzy or a Shirley.

No, but they do make for a Caroline.

_-j-_

"Listen, darling, it'll be perfect. All you gotta do is show up, and with that face nothing could possibly go wrong." I smiled at the man with shining teeth, because he had just said my two least favorite promises; "perfect" and "nothing could possibly go wrong". This of course guaranteed it will go wrong, but he didn't know that.

He was a con, but not an artist, with his black slicked hair and brown eyes that begged you to trust him. And if you were naïve enough, maybe you didn't grow up here or maybe he got you to try the house specialty, you'll trust him.

I was the artist. At least, that's what I told myself as he took my cold hand (how ironic) into his gloved one (he likes to say they're for fashion, but I know there's some scars there that brand him) and led me through the back entrance to the club. A free flowing string of my dress snagged on the rusty door, but I kept walking because everything else will unravel by the end of the night anyway, so why not the dress I didn't pay for?

I was the artist because artists take unexpected turns, and that's what I did. He was a con because cons think they know everything, and that's what he thought. I'll show him.

"Don't forget, you're a complete knockout and nothing can possibly go wrong (there it is again) if you just keep to my perfect (not what I would call it) little plan." He was whispering into my ear when we enter the club, and my first genuine smile of the night crosses my face. It was because Gloria's in the 1920's really was something to behold, and it reminded me of my city.

It was dimly lit, of course, because the deeds done here really didn't need any more light shed on them. There was a dance floor in the middle of the club, packed but not sweaty, of which everything else is centered around. A bar, which only serves a pop and fries, thank you very much, was placed on each end of the large room that was made smaller by the big personalities. And there was booth seating scattered all over the place, with greasy tables and soft seats. And, my favorite part, there was a stage across from us where a young girl was crooning along to the cello, serenading everyone in the place. It was ritzy, yes, but more like my home than the place where my bed resides.

"You're not listening to me baby." He said, and of course he's right, because I didn't even know he was still talking. And because I was still not listening, my eyes focused on the dancers, his hands took me by the shoulders and spun me around.

"What I was sayin' is this ain't your usual caper, and he ain't your usual bimbo. He's gonna know our tricks, and doll I know you're good but you're gonna have to be perfect tonight." My hand fleetingly touched the small gun dug into the lace of the ensemble under the ensemble and I finally met his eyes. I didn't want to tell him I was nervous, because he wouldn't know why.

"I'm only stressin' right now 'cause Linda got pinched last week and I can't afford to lose you too, baby." He did that a lot, talks for you. And my eyes gained that special glint that adults noticed when I was ten, because he didn't know it but he would lose me tonight.

"Tyler, I know. I know." I paused, allowing him to focus on me. People told me I had got a great voice, a convincing one. A damning one. "I'm with you, don't worry." And I laughed inside because he really, really, should be worried. His brown eyes calmed, and I almost regreted saying it. We've had some good times, he always payed on time, and he had never gotten handsy though I knew I was a terrible tease. Probably my best boss so far, but I didn't like staying in one place too long and I liked to go out with a bang.

Even though I knew he was keeping something from me about tonight's event, I was still exiting this evening. If something went terribly wrong I knew a couple of loopholes in this city.

So, when he subtly pointed his finger in the direction of my mark from our very dark corner of the club, I smiled. Next stop; freedom.

He was packing, I could tell. Don't ask me how, it just came with the job. And I wasn't just talking about his weapons or money either.

What Tyler's plan said is that I'll walk up to his booth, seduce him, and take what I came for. But I don't like being the obvious cat to the mouse, I liked my opponent to think he can be the cat and it turns out he's the mouse. So instead I slowly walked over to the bar and took a seat.

"Hi, Caroline." Gloria said sweetly, and I think she's always had a soft spot for me 'cause she never made me pay for my drinks.

"Hi." I said simply, and she was already making my drink. I felt eyes on me and I glanced over to my left to see a not unsightly gentleman staring daggers at me. I raised my eyebrows at him but didn't make any motion that he should join me, as he wasn't not my mark. But, characteristic to the men that frequent bars, he slid down the couple of stools anyway.

His smile reminded me of a waning crescent moon, almost happy but not quite. His eyes were a blue that could be green if he said so and thick lashes which fell around these that match his hair, lighter brown. He had a sharp jaw and was wearing a sharp suit. I still made no effort to acknowledge him, but as Tyler would say "you mustn't be rude, you never know when they'll be useful". So I smiled.

"Stefan." He said, and I assumed he wanted my name in return. I gave him my best bored look and took a sip of the drink Gloria had just set down in front of me.

"Caroline." I said after what felt like a long while. He smiled again. It was a smile that hides sadness. I was good at reading people.

"Why haven't I ever seen you here before, Caroline?" He asked smoothly and I shrugged.

"Maybe you weren't looking." He chuckled, and it was deep and sounded forced. I think he was hoping I would say I was a newcomer. I suddenly felt another pair of eyes on me and I glanced over my shoulder again to find my mark staring at me from across the club, still tucked away in his private alcove.

"You know, a girl like you doesn't belong in a place like this." Stefan said to regain my attention and I looked back at him and almost laughed, the line is that practiced.

"Oh, yeah? And what kind of girl am I?" I asked and his eyes seemed to flash at my question. I saw a kind of hunger in his eyes that put me off my drink.

"A kind that doesn't belong in a place like this." He murmured distractedly and then it was as if someone had called his name, though I didn't hear anything, because he turned his head away from me and smiled as if listening to a private joke.

I hadn't answered what he said so he spoke again.

"My friend would like you." He said simply and I smiled, there was always a friend that would like me.

"Mmm." I murmured as I took another welcome sip of my drink. "And who's that friend?" I asked, although I already had a bad and good feeling I knew who his friend was.

"Come with me." He said and stepped down from the stool, offering his hand out to me.

I found that that this side of life often offered you a last choice before your damned, but I accepted his hand anyway and stepped down from my stool, glancing back to Gloria in a way of saying goodbye. I knew Tyler was no longer watching by now, the actual hunt made him nervous, and I felt freer already.

"Behave." Stefan said so quietly behind me it was as though he said nothing at all. I looked up at him with a look of astonishment, _does he know what I'm doing?_, before I remembered where I was and I wiped it off my face. We had finally reached the booth, and I could feel _his_ eyes on me, scraping over my body. I would say running, but his gaze was much harsher than that.

"Niklaus, this is my new friend Caroline." Stefan said as he slid into the booth, releasing my hand. I finally looked up from the ground to take my mark in. He was sitting next to another blonde whose eyes were calculating until they landed on Stefan and a smile graced her pretty face. Her hair was all pinned up to the high heavens and her lips dared you to make an insult.

My mark was still staring at me, and his eyes were two shades darker than that which was to be trusted. His hair was smoky quartz pushed back and his full lips were a red that called me to something I couldn't remember. He was wearing a suit that was sharper than Stefan's and screamed money. A wolfish smile crossed his face before he talked.

"Please, Caroline, call me Klaus." He said and it was then that I realize he wasn't from around here, but I didn't know where from. His voice rolled across my name like liquor and I found myself almost captivated by the sound of it, almost. He patted the seat next to him and I slid in willingly.

The game was just getting started.

For a while my mark- Klaus and Stefan spoke to each other, after Stefan managed to pull his face off the other blonde, in what seemed to be a code language, it was so fast. Then the blonde called for Stefan's attention again and Klaus looked back at me.

"Why are you here tonight Caroline?" And I blinked twice because he spoke like he already knew what I was going to say. So I stayed silent.

"You can talk, love, I don't bite." He said darkly and I flushed because I could tell he liked games just as much as I did. I decided the best way to get this mark was to surprise him. He was a predator, a wolf, who knew the trail well. I needed to make the trail have a sudden bump.

"Too bad." I said quietly, it was a whisper, and his eyes flashed darker. I've managed to surprise him, I thought. He slung his arms over the top of the booth and continued to gaze at me and I tried my best to look unaffected.

"You're going to regret that." He said eventually, and I shrugged my shoulders. He smiled.

"What do you like to do Caroline?" He asked and said my name again as though he was obsessed with it. I was momentarily struck by the question, I didn't think I had ever been asked before. I felt a sudden pull to be excruciatingly honest.

"I like to play." I murmured after a moment's pause, giving him what Elena has deemed my "bedroom eyes". It was a part of this, make them want you, bad. But don't let yourself want them. Then, when they're teetering on the edge take what you can get and vanish. I was good at it.

His mouth opened for a second, his tongue darting out to wet his plump lips. Yeah, he was attractive. All sharp lines, cunning wit, and unusual features.

"Me too." He answered in a voice more guttural than mine, and I liked it. For a moment we sat there, staring at each other and I brushed off the fact that I almost forgot for a moment that he was only a mark.

"How about we dance, love?" Klaus asked, and I nodded. We scooted out of the booth together and Stefan pulled away from the blonde long enough to give Klaus what seemed to be a knowing look. I frowned, not understanding. But Klaus gripped my hand and pulled me away before I could entertain the thought any longer.

He led me to the center of the dance floor and then pulled me close into his chest. We swayed gently to the jazzy music, and I could feel his smile against my hair. He was a harder mark than I thought, he took the lead much too often.

Tonight's main purpose was to steal the delicate beaded necklace he had hiding under his suit, and I only knew it was there because Tyler told me. It was a relic from the Stone Ages, crafted with stones and metals that belong in museums, and I had no idea how this Klaus man had it. But it was worth millions, which meant Tyler wanted it.

One might assume that I too was obsessed with money, as I came from nothing and I was in this business. It couldn't have been more false. I, in fact, cared very little about money, except when I didn't have enough to pay my landlord. My mother lived her life driven by her demons, controlled by her obsessions and I liked to think I lived opposite of what she was, I was much more powerful, in my mind. I refused to be run by anything materialistic.

Klaus pulled me from my reverie with a deep chuckle. It was more chilling than Stefan's, but then maybe because it was sincere. I pulled away from his chest where I hadn't realized my head had been resting. My gaze met his.

"What?" I asked, suddenly aware it was well past midnight and I hadn't yet earned my keep. He laughed once more.

"My sister over there has been severely angry all night." Klaus said, nodding to the blonde still sitting with Stefan. "Her name is Rebekah." He added, as though I was supposed to have any inkling as to what he was talking about.

"So…." I trailed, willing him to continue. A sly grin crossed his handsome face.

"Lovely Caroline, do you have any idea why my little sister might have been so balled up tonight?" He asked, and his hand slid daringly lower on my back and I had half a mind to tell him to stick it before I realized again he was merely a mark.

"No, I don't." I answered, a sinking feeling forming in my stomach.

"Well, just last night someone stole her favorite party dress from her home, which is very hard to do seeing as my sister keeps a tight hold on designers." My eyes widened as I comprehended. His eyes were smiling down at me in amusement, I think. He bent down, his lips grazing my earlobe. I couldn't help but shiver.

"Love, you're wearing that dress." He whispered roughly into my ear, and my eyes yearned to close within his proximity, but I kept it together. He pulled back, and his eyes still told of amusement. I was left confused as to whether or not he was angry. I looked down at the dress that hugged my body well. It was red with layers of glittering stands of quality silk hanging down so that they swayed seductively when I moved. I had indeed stolen it from an apartment in the city last night. I couldn't help but blush.

"Well…" I trailed off again, trying to gather my bearings. Hopefully he thought me a simple thief, and not the double-crosser that I was. "Finders keepers." I quipped and he laughed heartily.

"Don't worry, love, I won't tell." He said in that cursed accent of his and I gave him a small smile. He leaned down again, this time into my neck. His hot breath fanned over the delicate skin there, and for some reason I felt afraid and aroused all at once. He pulled me sharply closer before speaking.

"It looks better on you anyway." He murmured into my neck, and then pressed a kiss to the skin that was so brief I wondered if it happened at all.

We danced for a couple more minutes as the songs faded into one another, and I completely lost myself in his arms. They were warm, and for some reason I felt safe, which was so laughingly ironic it hurt. He pulled away after another song ends, piercing me with his gaze.

"Will you come with me?" He asked. I nodded after a moment, afraid of what my mouth would do if I opened it. Perhaps this was my chance to get the necklace. He led me off the dance floor, and I missed it when he glanced back to Stefan with a triumphant smile. We stepped out the front entrance of Gloria's and into the chilly night air of the city.

It rained earlier that day, leaving everything in its path gleaming with reflections of the lights. It painted a wanton picture that left me breathless.

I rubbed my bare arms, trying to hide my goose bumps that were definitely not from the cold. Klaus seemed to buy it as he shrugged off his suit jacket and placed it over my shoulders. It smelled of him; fire and ice, far off earths and something I couldn't quite catch. His large hand enveloped mine again as he led me to a sleek black car that was waiting, the engine running, off a side street.

He opened the door to the back seat and ushered me in first, his hand on my lower back. It was maddening. I scooted onto the plush leather seating, sitting by the window. Klaus closed the door after us. I glanced over at him and his features were slightly hidden in the shadows of the night, but a street light nearby illuminated his captivating eyes.

"Where to?" He asked in a husky voice that said he was rather affected too, and we both knew we weren't going anywhere. I whetted my lips with my tongue. I could hear his sudden intake of breath. I found my body inching closer to him in the proximity of the car, and his eyes glanced towards the driver sitting unaware in the front seat. I think he was surprised when I lifted my hand up to touch his cheek, feeling the stubble poke slightly against the palm of my hand. I could almost feel him leaning into it.

"Klaus, I- " But my words were cut off as an odd warmth suddenly caressed my mouth. It was his lips, I realized belatedly. He was kissing me. My mark was kissing me. I found no motivation to make him stop. His lips were surprisingly soft as they moved slowly against mine, awakening something I didn't know yet inside me. My hand remained wrapped around his jaw as he leaned in closer, kissing more deeply, taking me with him to some unknown place.

I felt his tongue seek my mouth out, tracing the edge of my lips erotically. It surprised me when a low whimper escaped my mouth, opening it to his unforgiving lips. He explored my mouth like no one else ever had, and I could tell he was really very good at these kinds of things. Goose bumps were rising again on my pale skin as I felt his one hand on my knee, the other wrapping around to my lower back. He was urging me closer and I let him pull me further into hell.

I reached my hand that wasn't still holding onto his jaw to grasp the back of his neck, where his soft curls met even softer skin. I could feel the clasp to his necklace there, but I couldn't bring myself to care about my mission. His mouth pulled at me, as though he was trying to tell me something. The fingers of the hand on my knee wrapped around it, tracing the sensitive skin under it. I couldn't help but moan.

He used this hold as leverage to pull me closer to him, urging me onto his lap and I followed all too eagerly. My bare legs rested on either side of his as I sat on his lap, my dress hitching further up on my hips due to our embrace. His lips didn't falter once and my hand fell from his jaw to his chest, incidentally right over his pounding heart.

A hardening between my legs suddenly opened my eyes and I pulled away from his mouth that was much too hot to belong to anyone human (perhaps the devil, maybe an angel). Our gazes locked as he pulled me by my thighs further into lap, more directly onto his need that had surprised me so. I could only hope he hadn't noticed my inexperienced blush as he buried his face into my neck, his lips suddenly latching onto the skin there.

I really couldn't help the moan that fell from my open mouth as he sucked the sensitive spot of my neck, blunt teeth scraping against my skin. A dangerous shiver crept down my spine. My hips seemed to have a mind of their own as they undulated against his. I could feel rather than hear his growl.

Seven shades of hot fire were exploding deep within a part of me that was unexplored. His hands inched up my thighs, the callouses of his touch leaving a trail of unadulterated need. My dress pushed further up as he wandered higher on my body.

"K-klaus." I stuttered. I wasn't sure why calling his name felt so right in that moment, but it did. He looked up at me, his eyes a dark blue that seemed to mirror undiscovered oceans. Both of our breathing were heavy, mine faltered and unsure.

It was as though everything suddenly moved very, very fast. I turned my head to the right as he kissed my neck there, incidentally facing the street. I screamed at the sight there and Klaus pulled away from me with a movement I couldn't even see as he looked out the window.

And then he was outside the car, though I couldn't tell how it was possible for him to move so fast. The figure that had been standing there was in Klaus' grip, the stranger's feet not touching the ground anymore and I could barely hear Klaus talking before the body of the man fell to the ground. I screamed again as I watched blood pour onto the city streets. The door to the car was opening and Klaus reached out for me.

Maybe it was primal instinct that trusted him, I'm not sure. I said before how the other side gives you a choice before you're damned, and I'm sure this was mine.

Regardless, my body was eager to be back into his arms so I reached out for him and he pulled me from the car. He yelled something to his driver but I wasn't paying attention as my eyes were fixed on the body strewn across the street. The head wasn't attached I realized and I glanced up in fear to Klaus as he wrapped his arm around my waist and half dragged-half carried me back into the club.

It was utter chaos inside as people ran, knocking over tables and chairs, screaming in pain or fear. I suddenly registered the sound of gun shots ringing through my ears. I couldn't see what was causing it and I felt like my body was moving much too slow. Klaus wasn't though and he led me confidently through the masses, towards where Stefan and Rebekah were standing. He yelled something to Rebekah that I couldn't make out and Rebekah's eyes widened in fear. She was shaking her head, crying.

Klaus then let go of me for a second to grip onto the sides of Stefan's face. He said something to him, and Stefan nodded blankly. Rebekah was still screaming and crying.

"I love him! I love him! Please don't!" She was saying but whatever she was pleading Klaus not to do was already done as Stefan stepped away in a haze. Klaus was just turning back to me, the same look of determination on his face as which had been when he had confronted Stefan.

He was reaching out towards me and the last thing I remember was the warmth of his hand and the steely coldness of his eyes before I felt another hand yank me away, and then darkness.


	2. Chapter II

His finely shined shoes made crunching noises as he walked across the broken glass strewn across the floor of Gloria's. The whole place was empty, which was something he could not fathom. It was only two a.m., it should be packed with those of the underground. He struggled to connect a thought with another as he felt like he had the answer, but then it disappeared.

He was still walking when he saw something glittering there on the ground. He crouched down, picking it up. It was a simpler necklace with a strange sphere-like shape to it, a red gem adorning the upper corner. He knitted his eyebrows together.

This necklace, he knew this necklace. It was- he struggled to come up with where it was from.

Pale skin, blonde hair, crimson sheets, crimson blood, lots and lots of blood. It all flashed before him but he couldn't put it together.

Stefan shrugged, standing up and pocketing the necklace. Even if he couldn't remember where exactly he knew it from, he wanted to have it. He walked through the strangely empty club, not glancing back as he stepped through the doors.

-_j-_

"Nik. Oh my god, Nik." Rebekah was murmuring as her hands listed fearfully through her hair, her heels clicking loudly against the marble flooring as she paced back and forth.

"He found us, how could he have possibly found us?" Her thoughts spoken aloud more or less mirrored his own, though his spoke less fear and more anger. He had settled into that city, it had been comfortable and dare he say fun.

And then he had met Caroline, what an inconvenient time. His eyes flicked to the ceiling above him as he thought of her for the millionth time. He had been with her when she had screamed, seeing the vampiric face of one of Mikael's henchman. No doubt she hadn't know what it was.

He raised his tumbler full of warm blood to his lips, sipping leisurely. He wished it was her blood though.

Caroline, beautiful and unexpected Caroline.

"Nik, what are we going to do?" Rebekah asked after she had calmed down a bit. He looked up at her, smiling.

"Well, we have thrown him off the trail for now. Next, we will plot our revenge." He said calmly, trying his best not to let his worry seep through as he heard another tortured whimper from upstairs.

He had immediately called one of his witches after they had escaped Gloria's, a bloodied and unconscious (but not dead, invariably not dead) Caroline in his lap. She was absolutely knocked out and Klaus couldn't even wake her up to accept his blood, which would heal her. Rebekah had been shaking and crying next to him in the car, completely oblivious to Klaus' pain and concern, of which he was grateful for now.

There were four witches attending to Caroline now in one of the upstairs room of his palace in southern Italy. That's where he had flown them after escaping the city which Mikael had found them in. It had taken two days to get here. She had been attacked by a vampire of Mikael's and though it had only taken a couple of seconds for Klaus to kill the vampire and retrieve Caroline, she was human and it had damaged her terribly.

He wanted to erase the haunting images of her torn dress and body. _Your fault, your fault_. Something whispered inside of him.

Klaus stood up suddenly, wanting to stop those thoughts, and also wanting to check on Caroline.

"Will she live?" Rebekah asked as she collapsed into a lavish armchair. Klaus faltered in his step, glancing down at his beloved sister. He blinked. Rebekah's eyebrows furrowed at what she saw in his eyes.

"Nik, she is human." She saw fear there, fear for the human girl's life. She knew him to think that she had been oblivious to what had happened in the car and in the club but it would have been impossible to have not heard him. _No. No. No. Not her. _He had repeated it as he tried to shove his wrist into her mouth until they reached the witches.

"I know that." Klaus said cautiously, trying to be devoid of emotion. Rebekah was good at reading people.

"Just reminding you." She called out as he walked away, up the stairs.

Klaus' footsteps resonated throughout the now silent hallway of the upper level and he turned down one side, towards where Caroline was. He inched open the door to find the four witches scattered around the room, sitting down and staring at her.

She was lying in the bed, uncovered. Her still torn dress stolen from Rebekah (he still wanted to laugh about that but didn't) remained on her body. He couldn't see any of her injuries anymore and none of her sliced flesh was open to the air as it had been. There was just dried blood. Her hair was matted down and wild, her mouth open to accommodate the breaths that she needed.

"How is she?" His voice was broken and rough, fractured by emotions he hadn't had to deal with in a long time. One of the witches raised her head to look at him with what he thought was pity. He'd have to kill her for that later.

"She is still unconscious, sir Niklaus. All of her physical injuries have been healed, but her mind is plagued by what she has seen. It has taken a great toll on her inner being." The witch murmured softly and Klaus nodded, sitting down on the bed at her feet.

"How long until she wakes?" He asked softly, not wanting to disturb Caroline. Her kiss still burned his lips.

"We don't really know for sure. Since she is human, it will be difficult for her when she is up to process everything." Another witch said, lifting her head. "But, we have seen glimpses of her memories through healing her. She has lived through a troubled past and is strong, she can overcome this." Klaus' eyes narrowed. Troubled? Caroline should never have to go through pain.

"Thank you, you may leave me now." Klaus said to them as he didn't want them prying into his mind right now as it seemed to be doing whatever the hell it pleased. They filed out of the room. He sat there, staring down at this fragile human he had only met hours ago.

Suddenly she whimpered again in pain and Klaus surged forward, wrapping his arms around her. He lifted her up so that he could sit behind her, Caroline's head coming to fall against his shoulder as she lay on him. He kissed her forehead gently and whispered,

"Shhhh, love. It will be over soon, I promise."

_-j-_

I awoke on the soft padding of summer grass and inhaled the sweet scent. It was summer here. Above me I could see the delicate spiraling trees, covered in blossoms and glittering green, reaching towards the sky, which was blue and irresistible.

I tilted my head as I felt a warm breath on my shoulder, smiling as I saw Tyler lying beside me.

"Hey, baby." He said in a strange drawl. I smiled, glad that my friend could be here, in what seemed like paradise, with me. And as I looked into his warm brown eyes they slowly shifted into endless blue ones, and then it was Klaus lying there.

"Love." He murmured and I blushed, recalling our kiss. He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me into his side. I stared into the depths of his sapphire eyes and watched as they suddenly changed into harsh black ones.

"I'm back Caroline." The man said, and long teeth suddenly broke through my skin.

I screamed.

_-j-_

I could feel it right there, hovering above me. Consciousness. I wanted it so bad. I wanted to be awake, to force my limbs to my submission. Because right now they just. weren't. _moving_.

I was suspended in darkness, somewhere between where I wanted to be and where I didn't. Everything ached terribly.

I could feel it as someone pressed their lips to my forehead and for a fleeting moment I thought it was my mom.

But I knew it wasn't and was grateful for that. Because if it was, I had gone to place I didn't want to be and that was sad.

_-j-_

Sunlight flickered across my eyelashes, urging my eyes open. They did and I saw a blank white space above me. I pondered what new place this could be before I realized it was a ceiling. To a room, a real room, with real sunlight. I was startled as I shifted to take in more of it.

It was definitely the nicest bedroom I had ever been in, with huge bay windows overlooking some ocean (an ocean? where the hell was I?) and marble flooring that looked to be old and valuable. The room was covered in fine paintings and the bed I was lying was soft and pliable. I had been changed into a silky nightdress I realized as I looked down, wondering who had changed me.

I looked to my left at the sudden noise of breathing and there was Klaus, sitting on an armchair, his head thrown back and eyes closed in sleep.

Suddenly memories came rushing back of decapitated heads, black eyes, and blood. Lots of blood. I started shaking, suddenly very afraid of what happened.

"Klaus." I uttered, my voice hoarse and husky from disuse. How familiar. His head snapped up immediately and his eyes met mine. For a second I swear I saw relief there.

"Caroline." He whispered as he stretched like a lazy lion that had been taking an afternoon nap in his lair. His blue eyes were hazy and he looked tired, but he focused on me.

"What happened?" I asked cautiously, unaware of where we were, what day it was, and why I was so damn sore. My head hurt, too.

"It's been four days since you were conscious. How much do you remember?" He asked, resting his head on his hand as he gazed at me. _Four days?_

"Umm…" I tried to focus, to recall something. It was like there was a chasm in my mind, where I knew things were but they were blocked by a veil of darkness now. "We were together in the car. I remember that." I blushed as he nodded slowly, not seeming to be too affected by the mention of our passionate moment.

"And, something scared me?" It turned into a question because I really couldn't place what had made me scream, but I remember screaming. Klaus just nodded again. "I don't remember anything else."

"You were attacked." Klaus said slowly as if speaking to a child and I nodded as I took this in. "And I then got you medical attention and now we're here." I could tell there were gaps in his story. But his movements were rather distracting.

He got up from his chair, a devious look overcoming his face as he walked towards me slowly, and I watched his advance. He wrapped his arms around me once he reached the bedside. I was still sore and I winced at his touch.

"Sorry." He muttered at my whimper and instead lifted me up so that my head was resting in his lap and he was leaning against the pillows I had been laying on.

"Can you remember anything else, love?" He asked softly as his hands began to play with my hair, his fingertips rubbing into my scalp. It felt heavenly.

"No." It was meant to be said with suspicion but it came out as a moan. I could practically hear his smirk. With a touch like this, there was no need to mention that a couple of nights ago he had been a pawn in my scheme.

"Where am I?" I managed to focus and speak at the same time. I heard a rumble from Klaus and his hands tugged at my hair. I couldn't help my gasp.

"Love, that's not really important right now, is it?" He spoke in a mellifluous tone, drawing me further into his touch. It was mesmerizing. One of his hands left my curls, tracing down my neck instead. It continued further down my body, fingering the strap of the silky night dress I was wearing. It stopped moving as he spoke.

"Wouldn't you much rather _not _talk?" He said darkly, and I found my head nodding at his words. Anything, really, just to make his hands continue. And they did, the one trailing further down, in the valley between my breasts. He cupped one of them suddenly, and I realized fairly quickly that whomever had dressed me had decided against a bra.

"Aaaaa." Another moan escaped my mouth as his thumb swept across my tender nipple, the other hand pulling again at the roots of my hair. It was pleasure mixed with pain, ice with fire.

I barely felt it as Klaus flipped us over so that now I was underneath him, his hips pinning me deeper into the bed. I looked up into his eyes and found them to be molten steel. He propped himself up on one forearm, the other free to continue its deadly path.

His hand flitted across my stomach, teasing past my hips, and the flimsy night dress I was wearing was rather short and posed no problems to his devilish ways. He was kissing down my neck, his lips occupied there with one hand cupping one of my breasts, teasing it gently when my heat was met with his hand. I gasped. It was all way too much.

"Carolineee." He groaned into the crook of my shoulder and I realized my mystery dresser also decided not to offer me panties. My center was free to the roughness of his touch, not that I was really complaining any.

"You're very responsive, love." And I blushed as his accent spun through the ardent words with ease. He was very, very forward. "So wet." His hand was rubbing against me as he spoke, tuning me like an instrument he knew well. Klaus was speaking into my neck, his lips brushing against my skin and his breath fanning across.

I could barely remember what we had even been talking about before.

I whimpered as my hips ground against his hand and I could feel his smile against my skin. He was pulling me in again, towards that thing which was unknown to me.

Suddenly he shifted and I felt a finger violently plunge inside of me. I gasped loudly at his movement as he growled.

"Damn, love. You are so fucking tight." He was slow inside me, and of course it had my mind running rampant with certain thoughts. He was really very good at all this. His cheek was pressed to mine as his nose dove into my hair, and I'm certain he could feel the heat on my face unmasking my inexperience.

Not to say that as a con artist I didn't kiss them, most certainly, it was a part of the game. But I'm really very good at it and it never took me longer than kissing to get what I needed.

And this time, I wasn't really sure what I needed.

He rotated his index and I gasped again, which is what I'm sure he wanted as his chuckle resonated through the room. He went so slowly I could feel ever divet in his finger, every flux of his movement.

"Nik! Nik! We have a visitor!" A voice bounced through the hallway outside my door and Klaus was out and off of me faster than I could even blink. And that's what I was doing, when a woman walked into my room. Somehow he had managed to sit back down into the armchair, not even a hair out of place. How unfair.

"Ah, if it isn't our sleeping beauty, awake." The woman said, only on the edge of being snide. I could tell she was one of those girls that really are truly beautiful but they seek to find the validation from everyone else too. I suddenly recognized her as Klaus' sister, Rebekah.

"Um, yeah." I murmured as I realized that both siblings were staring at me, awaiting a response. It wasn't my smoothest. I tried my best to pull the duvet up over my barely covered chest and still underwear-free bottom half.

"That's a quality night dress you're wearing there." Rebekah said, her voice not as cold as it had been. I could almost hear sympathy, maybe at my flushed state, maybe at my wild eyes.

"Oh, so you're the one who dressed me?" I regretted the question as soon as it was answered.

"No, god no. Nik simply asked me for something for you." I glanced over at Klaus and he was smirking, eyebrows half-raised in a sexy 'yeah, I dressed you, and yeah, I'm the one that chose sans undergarments." Rebekah coughed to break our stare down. I glanced over at her, guiltily of course.

"Nik, I did say you have a visitor. I will go greet them but I expect you down there soon." Rebekah said in a cursory tone, as though she were trying to forget about something. Klaus raised his hand in acknowledgement, swiftly closing the door once she left.

He stood up, stalking closer to me. My breath hitched in reaction, as I was still aching from his sudden absence of touch. He smiled slowly.

"Caroline, love." He reached forward, his hand grabbing the duvet I had pulled up to my chin and pulling it down to reveal my quivering body. He smirked, as I was becoming accustomed to. "We will finish this later." And with a parting kiss beside my mouth, he was gone.

I sighed, my head falling back onto the sinfully soft pillows. I was aching very badly deep in my stomach, and yearning swirled viciously in my body. My hips swiveled, trying to fight it off. It took a minute or two for me to cool down.

And out of Klaus' hypnotizing presence, my mind was free. _What am I doing here? _Kept running across my mind, and it was rather plaguing. I liked to be in control of my predicaments, and here I was in some unknown land, with some unknown man, and no particular wish to stay. It was rather overwhelming.

I stood up, testing out my limbs. They seemed okay to move, but rather in need of some, ahem, _relief. _I tried my best to shrug it off, instead turning to the view from the massive bay windows.

It was definitely a beach, as I had noticed before, but one like I had never seen before. The sand was so white and the water a tantalizing dark blue that it reminded me of something. I gasped as I glanced over to the left and saw a beautiful city, filled with high arches made of stone and breathtaking gondolas washing through the canals in the streets. This was definitely not home.

I stepped away from the window, walking through the rest of my quarters. I chanced upon the en suite powder room. It was as elegant as the rest, a giant claw foot tub and wash basin with a fairly large mirror. I took in a sharp breath at my appearance.

Firstly, my hair was a mess. Probably from lying on it for days and Klaus' less than gentle treatment of it. My skin looked badly in need of some attention, and, most glaringly, there was a dark love bite right under my ear. I hadn't even noticed him doing that. I cursed his talented mouth. I noticed a few pins near the basin, and used them to artfully pin my hair back, effectively covering the mark. There was a floor length satin robe hanging from the door, and I pulled it on, tightly tying the sash. _There._ I felt a little more prepared to face the rest.

I wandered out of my room, taking in my surroundings. Directly across from me was a grand marble staircase leading down into the foyer, and to my left and right were hallways which led to what I assumed to be more bedrooms. Everything was eerily silent and bright, and even my bare feet seemed to make noise. It was all extravagantly decorated and I didn't think I had ever been in a nicer place.

Wrapping the thin robe that offered little warmth tighter around my body I chose to go left from my room. I passed by several doors before one would open, and I glanced into it.

I'm sure my mouth was hanging open again because, there, before my very eyes, was one of the most beautiful paintings I had ever seen. It was not unlike some Grecian goddess strewn across billowing sheets of silk, but it took a moment for the observer to fully realize the abstractness of it. Certain aspects of it threw you off, wondering exactly what the artist had intended it to be. Well placed spills of dark color led you to believe that it told of tragedy, but the woman (_was it even that? maybe a deity_) was painted in the lightest of pastels, soft lines of adoration and wonder. It was erotic, but historic, classic, but authentic, dreamlike, but very real. It left me breathless.

And I as I was able to take in more than that one, I realized the room was full of them, some still not finished but stunning nonetheless, others representing much darker themes, while still others were giant landscapes depicting lands I had certainly never been to. I spun around the vast room, trying to take it all in.

"Do you like them?" I heard a throaty voice behind me suddenly, and I spun around to face Klaus, who was standing behind me very closely. I couldn't help but blush.

"Oh, yes." I breathed, overwhelmed by the paintings and him. "I- they're rather incredible. Especially this one." I pointed my finger at the first one I had looked at, stepping closer to take in the strokes of each color. "It's so…" I trailed off as I turned around to face him again, finding his eyes dark and face drawn.

"And what do you think you're doing in here, little one?" He suddenly spoke with an edge, and I found myself stepping away from him in instinct. I could tell I'd overstepped a boundary. What had I been thinking?

"Klaus, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to intrude …it just caught my eye…" I trailed off again, not sure what to say. I was in a strange land in fancy clothes with an even stranger man who seemed to be getting angrier by the minute. "And, and you left me all alone in a place unknown to me!" He suddenly moved forward, gripping my wrist.

"Well, we'll just have to make sure you're locked up a little tighter next time, won't we?" His response confused and frightened me all at the same time, as he all but dragged me out of the room, firmly shutting and locking the door after us. It was vaguely familiar for some reason. His grip was bruisingly tight. I couldn't even manage a protest with the look he was giving me, all that came out was a puny whimper.

He practically pushed me back into my room that I was finding less and less beautiful and more dungeon-like by the second. We stood there staring at one another.

"Just, stay in here." He said briskly and then slammed the door. I heard the telltale click of a lock, and then his steps striding away. I sat down on the bed in defeat.

Did I just get locked in my room? Like a child?

_How dare he._

**Author's Note:**

**So definitely a big thank you to those of you who reviewed, I hope you like this chapter just as much.**

**A few canon notes:**

**-Most obviously, I chose to keep Rebekah alive for the purpose of this story, and uncompelled. I just love her character so much and wanted to be able to work with it in this story. Hopefully it doesn't bother anyone too much. You'll also see some other characters that aren't supposed to be "alive" that I've taken creative license with.**

**-It's set in the 1920's, but as you will see Klaus' character is not defined by what is represented in the show, we'll see a little more of the 21st century Klaus goals and personality as well.**

**-Klaus did not compel Caroline to forget the events, its more like selective amnesia. Just to clear that up.**

**-As you've seen here, I will also change the point of view once and a while, to round everything out. So it's technically first person omniscient, but whatever.**

**-I tried my very best to avoid any anachronisms but feel free to comment on any that you find and I'll correct it!**

**Again, thanks to those of you who reviewed. This is my first story that I'm publishing here, and I'm very excited for the plans I have for it.**

**Best,**

**J. **


	3. Chapter III

His heart was pounding. He couldn't remember the last time his heart had pounded like this. It wasn't even of necessity, of course, just pure emotion that caused the unwanted thumping.

His hands were shaking as he sat down in his chair placed before the roaring fire in his parlor. He couldn't remember the last time something other than ripping out a heart from someone's chest had made his hands shake.

It was her, the little demonic angel tucked away upstairs. Yes, tucked away, like he wanted her to be, tucked away and safe and at his will. If he was being honest, it was because she scared him, unbearably so. There was something about her -it was light, alluring, capturing- that drew him in, without any control of his. And if one thing was true about his almost one thousand year existence, it was that he liked- no needed, control.

He had lost himself with her when she had awoken from her slumber like some sacrificial priestess, her blonde tresses wild and piercing blue eyes bright. He hadn't been able to control his staggering emotions when he had seen her standing in his drawing room like a vision sent down from the clouds, covered in his obvious love bites and subtle bite marks (he really hoped her human eyes couldn't see those)- and the look in her eyes, it begged for him to take her. And he would have, if he wasn't a millennium old vampire who didn't delve into such indulgences with mere _humans. _Oh, yes, she was dangerous.

He wrung his hands as he considered his situation. It had been Elijah that had come to see him, of course he had heard of Mikael's attack. Which may or may not have added to his ill temper. And Elijah's nobleness and ability to see right from wrong reminded him that he should simply compel and release this poor human girl before he wrecked her life. But, he had never been considered righteous.

To Rebekah and Elijah, and Kol too, once he dug his head out of Rio's ass, he was keeping the girl with him on the pretenses that Mikael had seen her and any trace of her he could very well follow.

He slammed the tumbler full of blood (she made him _crave_) he hadn't known he'd been carrying down onto the mantle, small droplets of crimson liquid splashing onto the white marble below, and he stared into the fire reflexively.

The poor, beautiful girl. She had no idea what she was in for.

_-j-_

Rage and fear simmered right beneath my veins as the minutes, no hours, ticked by. An intoxicating combination. This man, whoever he thought he was, was in for it. I would not stand for being treated like your run of the mill molly. Oh, hell no, I had been through way too much to add in a controlling bastard too.

Of course, I knew that this was a folly. Ultimately, I was terrified. Everything was unknown to me, even the rules of this palace. I was practically coated in fear by the time night fell, revealing a blanket of holes in the sky that shone down with sparkling light over the crashing ocean.

I considered my options. I could jump from the window, though I had realized that the palace sits on the edge of a cliff that breaks into the ocean below, so that was a no-no. I wasn't exactly suicidal, yet. I could make a run for it, but where could I go? I had absolutely no money, no friends in this mysterious land, and no idea how to escape the palace, let alone return home.

Oh, I missed my tiny room in the apartment I shared with Elena back home. It was small and ratty, yes, but cozy and warm and I felt like I held a place there, my niche of self-proclaimed comfort was there in the city. Not here in this gargantuan palace that was cold and seemed to seep secrets from the walls. I could practically smell the cinnamon pancakes Elena would make me after a hard night out on the job, and I suddenly realized that I'm starving.

Instead of allowing these pestering thoughts to drive me absolutely insane, I tucked myself into the bed that was fit for kings and certainly not me and rested my head against the pillows. My eyes drifted closed to the sound of the angry waves crashing against rocks.

It was a pitiful, tossing and turning sleep filled with monsters disguised as handsome men and gods unyielding and barely knowing of my demons.

_-j-_

Hours later, I don't really know how many, I heard the creak in the door to my room as it was slowly opened. I suppose spending your whole day in one room really heightens your hearing. I inched one eye open that was partially covered by hair to view the intruder. Nightfall was still upon us, but a sliver of moon shine had crawled its way into the room, illuminating a strip of the floor.

It was him, of course. He was wearing all dark clothing, as per usual, and looked as if he had just gotten back in from being at some event. _Lucky you, you can leave this damn place._

I could feel his stare, and I was almost certain he was aware that I was awake. I practically felt him walking closer to my bedside, his even breathing on the edge of being inaudible. I suddenly felt his fingers brush against my forehead, pushing my hair behind my ear. It was fire-hot, that's how on edge every ending in my body was.

Sliding the eye shut that had been partially open in order to keep up the charade of me sleeping, I let out a heated breath. The next thing I knew his lips were brushing against my cheek, my nose, and pressing down in kiss on my forehead.

"Goodnight Caroline." And then in a rush of cold air I knew he was gone, leaving me wanting and breathless.

_-j-_

The first thing I heard was a knocking at the door. I opened weary eyes to my now all too familiar surroundings. My head was pounding. I sat up, looking down. I was still in this damn night dress and still with no damn undergarments. I had almost been hoping that Klaus had dressed me again, but these thoughts stopped before they got too far.

Had I been dreaming when he had kissed me goodnight? Certainly not as I had laid hot and bothered above the covers for a while after that, staring at the ceiling and wondering what was happening to me.

"Yes?" I called, remembering what had woken me up in the first place. A quiet but sure voice answered.

"Mr. Mikaelson has sent us up to aid you in preparing for breakfast." Mr. Mikaelson? Surely this was meant to be Klaus. And preparing for breakfast? Where was I, the queen's estate? For some reason I didn't think there would be cinnamon pancakes at this breakfast. I sighed, pushing back my covers and opening the door for the ladies.

They strode confidently into my room, and I wondered if _Mr. Mikaelson _often had ladies they had to attend to. There were three of them, and none were in the customary uniforms you would expect of maids women, or whatever they were. Each was wearing some intricate ensemble of delicate colors and expensive fabrics. My eyes widened, overwhelmed yet again.

One, whom introduced herself as Lillian, fluttered around me, as if to take in my being. I could hear her 'tsks at my state of cleanliness. I blushed, not accustomed to this much attention.

"Miss, you're going to need a bath, we will fill one up." And they did, in the en suite tub that I had admired the previous day. When I was undressed and climbing in I found it to be joyfully warm and smelled of the vanilla and verbena essences they had poured in. I leaned back against the blissfully cool edge, closing my eyes. I could almost imagine being at home, though it never smelled quite this good.

Pleasure was short-lived as the ladies urged me out of the tub and into some elaborate gown. Definitely not the short party dresses I was used to wearing. It siphoned off at certain areas of the body that hinted at curves that could haunt and was made of lighter silk, an unusual slate blue color. It managed to look sophisticated and dainty all in one swipe, and I gasped when they offered me a mirror. I didn't really recognize my body in the dress, it was so well made, airy and breezy and well, perfect. My eyes were offset by the blue and they had craftily hung my curls down my back. I slipped into some comfortable flat-type footwear and the dress fell elegantly past them. I felt beautiful.

"Thank you." I whispered, because it was all I was really thinking. It must have been the most expensive thing I'd ever worn.

"Don't thank us, miss. Thank Mr. Mikaelson. We are done here." Lillian said, and they all swept off in a manner which I found endearing. Off to breakfast, I suppose. Not that I knew where that was.

I headed out of my room and down the grand staircase, figuring this was a pretty good start. The dress was making me feel like I belonged in a place like this. And I took a right at the end of the staircase, as if I could sense where he was.

I was correct and walked directly into a large dining room. It was not unlike every other room of the palace, with floor to ceiling windows that revealed panoramic views of the ocean. A primarily glass dining table dominated the room, and it was currently covered in steaming food. My eyes widened, I was famished. It wasn't until Klaus spoke that I realized other people were in the room.

"Caroline, love. You look stunning." His voice rang clear and my eyes snapped to his. He was seated at the head of the table, customary dark but nevertheless expensive clothing in place, and he was flanked on one side by some unknown man. He had a broad jaw and seemingly trustworthy brown eyes. Next to him sat Rebekah, wearing her usual designer gown that told of her beauty. On Klaus' other side was an empty seat and then a younger looking man that was staring at me with mischievous eyes. I liked him already.

"Won't you sit down?" Klaus asked after my silence, motioning to the empty chair on his side. I carefully walked over, making sure not to make a fool of myself in the flowing dress. I pulled back the chair, noticing that they had been waiting for me as their plates were empty.

"Caroline, it's so nice of you to join us." The man across from me with the deceivingly trusting eyes said carefully, and I set my gaze upon him. I had decided in the short time span of sitting down that I was going to have fun with this. It was, after all, my first interaction with other people in quite a few days.

"It's so nice of Mr. Mikaelson here to let me, …" I said sweetly, trailing off in uncertainty as to his name, but looking the man directly into the eyes and not glancing over at the burning gaze of Klaus. I had chosen to call him by the name that Lillian had used, as he had been treating me like staff the entire time. The man next to me coughed on whatever he had been drinking to hold back his laughter, and the man I was speaking to seemed to not be able to control his smile. I was getting daggers from Klaus.

"It's Elijah, darling. My brother isn't the most cool-headed of men, young Caroline. You must be patient." He responded, and I nodded sagely, pretending to understand. Klaus' gaze really was distracting. And brother? Very interesting.

"Patience is a virtue, Elijah, and I find virtue difficult to muster in such… well, unvirtuous surroundings." I was very good at playing the docile mouse, it was phrased to sting but spoken as a timid guest. The man beside me was still holding in his laughter.

"Spoken well." Klaus said and I deemed myself to look at him. His eyes were blazing, with what I seemed to think was amusement. Those were eyes made to kill. I just nodded at him, taking a sip of the refreshing water at my plate. I maintained eye contact with him as I did.

"Miss Caroline, I like you already." The man beside me spoke for the first time, and I turned to him. His eyes were firecrackers, all light and unexpected joy. I smiled, he was infectious. "I'm the best brother, Kol." He finished, and I shook his hand formally.

"It's so nice to meet another Mikaelson, Kol. I'm sure it will be as pleasurable as all the others." I barely managed to say that line in a serious voice, but I pulled it off. Kol's eyes danced.

"As Niklaus said, you really do look stunning." He appraised me, but I could tell it was friendly. I glanced over at Rebekah, noting her silence, to find her staring at me mulishly.

"Why not we let the food be served?" Elijah asked, and waiters came forward to personally serve each of us. I almost scoffed at the grandeur of what I was understanding to be a family breakfast, but I wasn't complaining as my plate was piled high with eggs Machiavellian, croissants, delectable looking fruits, and thin slices of ham.

I smiled, grandeur it is.

_-j-_

He couldn't keep his eyes off of Caroline. She looked enchanting in Italian silk, and he made a note to send his buyers out for only that and the best of that next time. It hugged even the curves he hadn't seen yet, and his hands had been itching since she walked in.

He also couldn't help but notice she had come prepared. Oh, indeed. Her words from the first night he met her rang through his mind; _"I like to play". _Sweet Caroline, he could show you a few things about games. The way she was speaking and her carefully crafted lines, it made his cock twitch to tame that delectable mouth.

She was now eating, unaware of his thoughts. He smiled, he really had forgotten about her needing food to live, and this whole breakfast affair had been constructed in her honor. And now here she was, trying her best, and succeeding, at playing the game master at his own game.

"Are you very hungry, Caroline?" Elijah asked, and Klaus' nerve endings fired. He didn't particularly like any of his siblings getting to know Caroline, especially Elijah. It was not uncalled for that Klaus and Elijah often held affections for the same woman, and small wars would be held. _Not this girl. _He practically snarled, she's all mine.

"Oh, yes." Caroline answered, daintily wiping her mouth on a napkin. She glanced over at him, her eyes bright with excitement. They spoke of a different kind of hunger. He liked that look.

"Caroline, I just had the most splendid idea." _No, you didn't Kol. You never do._ "Why don't you join me after breakfast for a tour of the gardens here? Have you seen them yet?"

"Well, no. My stay here has been rather… limited." She smiled at Klaus and he smirked. "You'd really rather ask Klaus as to whether or not I'm allowed." _God damn, she's asking for it. _Here was this little, barely even two decades old, human riling him up like this, prodding at his ego. And Kol playing right into her palm.

"Of course, Caroline. You may go." He said easily, knowing that Caroline would bore of Kol easily. Yes he was intriguing and handsome and cunning, and all that was well and good, but Klaus planned on showing Caroline _real _fun.

_-j-_

I walked along side Kol, and he was talking, but I wasn't particularly listening. I was much too overwhelmed by what I was seeing, which was becoming usual in my days now.

The gardens, as Kol had called them, were stunning. Like something out of a fairytale. There were plenty of neat and well-maintained shrubbery on either side of the slab stone path that we walked along, keeping it in the appearance of medieval uniform. From where we were walking you could see the ocean, and it was breathtaking. We were currently facing the back side of the palace I suppose, and from here I could really take in its vastness. It was of a pale grey color and looked to be three levels high. While it was intimidating in size, it seemed to blend in with its surroundings, making me think it had been here for centuries. I was definitely out of my league.

But absolutely the most breathtaking part were the roses. There must have been millions of them adorning the grounds. Red, white, pink, and yellow, all of them everywhere and leaving the onlooker with a smell of sweet heaven. Here and there they were accented with flawless fountains that spouted from marble bones, and it made the view all the more enticing. My eyes widened as I realized how large the grounds were, and really how much money this all must have cost.

"Caroline." Kol called, and I looked up from the white rose I had been intently observing to see that I had fallen behind Kol's quick step, so I set the flower back on the ground where I had found it and caught up with him.

"Do you like it?" He asked, and I couldn't help but nod like an eager puppy. A bigger part of me was curious though, because Kol had the same unusual and definitely sensual accent that Klaus had been tormenting me with. This family was full of mysteries.

"Oh, yes. It is a little overwhelming in its grandeur, though." I said quietly, not wishing to upset him. I wasn't sure if quick anger ran in the family. He laughed, and it was booming and rather contagious.

"And how! Niklaus is rather open with spending on his possessions. Nothing but the best, doll." Kol said and I could tell he was very fond of his brother. We walked on, passing by a large gazebo type building that looked like it housed to-die-for parties.

"I like the roses." I said after our silence, and I could tell Kol was staring at me. He stopped walking and plucked a rather vibrant red one from a neighboring bush, twirling the stem in his hand for a moment. He then reached forward and tucked it behind my ear. I blushed at the contact.

"They suit you." He murmured and kept walking. Klaus and him were similar, I mused, both very mercurial. "I can tell now, why Klaus is keeping you."

"Keeping me?" I asked, rather cautiously.

"Oh, yes. He could have left you back in the city and you would have been doomed. Strange, really, that he brought you with, but I understand." I found his words cryptic, but I decided to ignore that.

"Home suits me." I said instead, referring back to the flower comment.

"Aren't you a little bearcat?" He asked, and I smiled. He talked like home and I was beginning to like him.

"Where are we, exactly? Klaus has been rather coy." I said, and I blushed again as I remembered his coyness.

"Southern Italy, darling." He answered and I gasped involuntarily. _Italy? _He had to be joking. We walked further on in silence, until we reached a barn of sorts. "Of sorts" because it didn't seem like the type of building that belonged on a ranch or farm, but definitely here on the palace grounds. It was ancient looking, but very regal and well maintained. I walked inside of my own accord, and saw that it was full of beautiful horses.

"Another one of Klaus' possessions." Kol said as he followed behind me, and I nodded. I was beginning to understand that there was no end to Klaus' wealth or interest in ownership. Curious.

I reached my hand out when we reached the stall of a tall black horse that was really very beautiful, and the horse nuzzled my hand. I looked back at Kol to find his brows furrowed. The name plate read _Potere. _I wondered at its meaning.

A servant then walked in through the entrance to the barn, his eyes on me in confusion.

"Kol, Elijah has sent me to say that you are needed back at the manor, immediately." The servant said, and as I looked closer I noticed that he was really more of a young boy. Kol nodded.

"Lovely, Caroline, I have to leave now, but I trust that you'll be able to find your way back?" Kol asked, and I nodded absently, distracted by the tickling sensation of the horse's mouth on my hand. He walked away and I sighed. These Mikaelson people really were rather alchemistic, and I found myself spinning after every conversation spent with one of them. Especially Klaus.

I stood there with the horse for a while, allowing myself to relax for a moment. Of course it was brief.

"You like horses." I spun around again to find Klaus leaning against the stall opposite the one I was standing in front of. He was rather sneaky.

"Yes, I do." I said, quietly, turning back to the horse so that I didn't have to face his intense stare.

"Why am I always finding you in places you shouldn't be?" Klaus said, stepping closer and to my side so that I was forced to look at him. I offered him a small smile.

"Maybe you have too many rules about where I can be." I said coquettishly, and his eyes glittered. He smiled, and for a moment I was completely captivated. He didn't often smile.

"Maybe that's true." He answered, and his voice had dropped an octave. He stepped forward so that we were much closer, and his hand reached up to finger the flower still behind my ear.

"Kol?" He questioned, and his voice was now dark and guarded.

"Yes."

"Mm. Very pretty." His finger then traced down my cheek, stopping next to my mouth. "And how did you find his company?" His question posed as a double edged sword, I'm sure.

"He was nice." Klaus' dark laugh was immediate and sarcastic.

"Nice? I suppose Kol would really only be nice to a pretty girl like you." Klaus said, and I blushed. His finger traced further down now, and he pushed my hair back past my shoulder, revealing my neck and the love bite he had given me.

"I like this." He murmured, his voice now very dark. Oh, how his words made my head spin. He leaned down and kissed the tender spot once, and his lips lingered for a moment before he pulled away again. I ached for more, as I'm sure was his intention. "It lets everyone know you're mine." He whispered, and my eyes widened at his words, spine tingling. It was a stimulant, to hear him say that. Normally I'd be running at those words, but from him they had me trussed up in a dark feeling that I didn't know.

And then his lips were on mine, halting whatever I was going to say. It felt like forever ago since he last kissed me, and I melted into him all too willingly. His hands reached up to grip my hips through the silk of my dress, pulling me closer to him, willing my body to submit to his. And of course it did.

His mouth on mine did all the things I remembered it to be capable of, aroused, tingled, demanded, controlled. He was intoxicating.

He broke away from my mouth and my breath was labored and much too loud. His lips trailed down the skin of my neck, leaving a trail of blood simmering and dancing under my skin. I reached my hands up to bury themselves in his unruly hair, and I tugged when his mouth reached the neckline of my dress.

"Caroline." He said and suddenly pulled away from me. I looked up at him, not understanding the expression he was trying to convey. His eyes were molten waves of desire, but his jaw was set and his mouth a grim line. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused.

"Klaus, what is wrong?" I asked timidly, my inexperience shining through, I'm sure. He looked away from me, out towards the gardens.

"I… I have something to do. Goodbye." He said abruptly, not looking me in the eye again as he walked away, rather quickly.

_What just happened?_

**Author's Note:**

**So, as you probably can tell, I have decided to bring back all of the Mikaelson family for this story. I just really love their characters so much and wanted them to be in the story, canon be damned. ;)**

**Also, in this chapter, mostly at the beginning, you get a lot more of what Klaus is going through right now. Desire, most definitely, but indecision as well. He wants her, but sees it as a weakness in his mind, and all the while he's unable to stay away.**

**As for Caroline she's used to be in control in her own territory, but here in Italy she's at a loss as to what she's supposed to be feeling. Definitely swept away, for the moment. Next chapter she's going to get a little help from a certain someone and we'll see more of her character develop.**

**And let's not forget we have a little Mikael issue at hand, as well.**

**Thanks so much for reading!**

**Best,**

**J.**

**P.S. Does anyone actually read these notes? Are they pointless? Let me know.**


	4. Chapter IV

She absolutely couldn't believe her eyes. It was just impossible, so impossible. She had been standing in the eastern part of the barn, tucked away and unseen, when Klaus had confronted Caroline. She was smitten, that much was obvious, but it was the look in Klaus' eyes that had taken Rebekah so aback. Klaus was smitten, too. With this human girl from the slums of the city.

And when his vampiric half had taken over, he hadn't drank from her, killed her, or even biten her. Instead he pulled away, unheard of for Klaus. Of course he had masked it with the skill that is only present in an Original, and the girl was unaware of what had really occurred, but the gesture alone was astounding. He was absolutely stuck on her.

Rebekah looked at the girl, almost in pity. She was obviously very confused and if Rebekah was correct also a little angry. Caroline reminded Rebekah of a younger her, a less experienced her. It made her wish that Klaus had never met Caroline, because she was doomed to meet heartbreak in death just as Rebekah had a million times over.

Alexander, Marcel, and now Stefan. Just his name crossing her mind caused a million pins to stab all over her body. But now was not the time for grief. There would be no million chances for Caroline to get it right, as a human there would only be one major heartbreak in her life; Klaus. She had chosen her fate without even knowing it.

And now here Caroline was, no doubt conflicted by the turbulent emotions Klaus was known to bring. Rebekah sighed, and decided to confront the doomed girl.

"Caroline." She called, and the young girl glanced up. She had not been crying, but her eyes were expressive and Rebekah was sure that in their look she saw not only sadness but also the feeling of being lost. Her blue eyes were swimming.

"Sorry, Rebekah, I'm not in the best state of mind." Caroline said, and Rebekah's eyes softened. The girl really was stunning, all soft lines and timeless features.

"I know how you feel." Rebekah said softly, motioning for Caroline to join her by sitting on a bench next to her. "It's Nik, isn't it?" She asked calmly, and watched as something very brief flashed across Caroline's features.

"Yes. He's just so, so… overwhelming." Rebekah chuckled.

"I have lived most of my life with him, and I can confirm that." Rebekah said and Caroline looked down at the dress she was wearing, deep in thought. "Do you love him?" The question must have come as a surprise to Caroline, for her head whipped up to look at Rebekah.

"No. Well, I don't think so. People always want something from you, and I don't know what Klaus wants from me. He's certainly been very forward with his actions, and I'm always a little on edge around him." Caroline confessed, glancing down at her knotted fingers with a blushing face.

"Do you want to be with him?" She asked this because holding feelings for someone and wanting to be with them were two very different sides of the same field.

"I… I don't know. I don't want to be here, I know that. I mean, I think I don't. But then sometimes I look into his eyes and I want to be near him, which scares me. But, I miss home, and I don't belong in a place like this." Caroline looked at Rebekah with big, hopeful eyes. Rebekah sighed internally. She was such a 20's girl, so brash but actually very scared on the inside and also deeply scarred. Caroline was looking for answers that the older girl wouldn't be able to give her.

"I'm out of my league." Caroline whispered, and a red tint rose to her cheeks. Rebekah's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, and then raised.

"Caroline! Please don't tell me you are a virgin!" Rebekah exclaimed and embarrassment flickered across the younger girl's features. She nodded sheepishly, no longer meeting Rebekah in the eye. "Oh, god. Caroline, sweetheart, does Klaus know?" Rebekah felt a surge of unexpected affection for this girl, here she was playing the equivalent to Klaus' hunter in a game she didn't know.

"Of course he doesn't know! Unless he can read minds, which, at this point, I wouldn't even doubt." Caroline said, blushing furiously once again. Rebekah's mind raced. This truly was the worst predicament.

"You're gonna be copacetic in the end, sweetheart. I promise." Rebekah found herself wanting to help Caroline, though how much good she could do she was unknowing to. While she knew it was an empty promise, she was also aware that it would help Caroline.

Her own love life was shattered, Stefan was now wandering the earth somewhere, unaware she even existed. She wanted Caroline's fate to be better than the bleak outlook it had now; to be the victim of Nik's inevitable anger.

She knew it would be Mikael that would eventually kill this story, she didn't know how, there was just this terrible gut-wrenching feeling.

"Really?" Caroline asked, and Rebekah could then see her true age. She was so young to have met someone like Klaus. She was probably barely twenty.

"Really. Just, be careful." Rebekah offered her, patting Caroline's hand gently, the only gesture she could really offer her as of right now.

"I'm trying."

_-j-_

Klaus was sitting at his desk, leaning his elbows on the hard alder wood surface, holding his head in his hands. _Why could he not get his fucking shit together?_

Before him lay the plans for the Mikael revenge that Elijah and Kol had drawn up just a couple of minutes ago, and he was supposed to be reviewing them. But no, of course he couldn't manage this simple task while his blonde torturer was on his mind.

He could try to blame the presence of Kol's rose behind her ear as to why he couldn't control himself and his vampiric side had taken over, but no, it really was just her. She made his blood boil, in the best and worst ways.

She had been standing right in front of his favorite horse's stall, and seeing Potere giving her hand kisses had given him the strangest jolt of feeling, one that he had never known before.

Maybe if he just gave in and took her already, in all the ways he imagined, everything would just become so much simpler. He would fuck her, then kill her, and then focus on the goal at hand. He had never claimed to be righteous, after all. But for some reason the kill her part made his head hurt; hence his current position. There was a knock at his door, breaking him from his thoughts.

"Yes?" He called wearily, practically already knowing who his visitor was. It was Elijah that stepped through the door, of course, with a determined look about him.

"Klaus, she needs to go." Elijah spoke with no preamble whatsoever, staring down at his brother. He sat down in the chair opposite Klaus' desk. Klaus' eyes snapped up to meet his.

"Why do you say that?" Klaus tried to make his voice stay calm, he really did, but even he could hear his anger peeking through.

"She's a distraction, a dangerous distraction. I can tell you haven't even looked at the plans I gave you. We need your head in the right place." Elijah said wisely, and it ticked Klaus off. He always gave Klaus his unwanted advice, managing to sound like a caring brother and a self-entitled asshole all at once.

"I can focus just fine, thank you." Klaus responded, leaning back in his chair, his fingers forming a steeple. Of course Elijah had noticed Caroline's power over his mind.

"Klaus, I meant it as a warning, but if you do not rid of her or start to focus, I will do the job myself." Elijah said, looking unflinchingly into Klaus' eyes. His jaw ticked at his brother's words, and the rage flowing freely in his veins was surprising and unsettling.

"Don't you dare threaten her." He said, not even trying to control his anger this time.

"Now this is surprising, Klaus. Protective, of a human girl?" He questioned, his eyebrows raising in challenge. Klaus did not need to be reminded of Caroline's fragile state.

"Elijah, she may be human, but make no mistake; your death will come before hers if you continue to threaten her so." Klaus spoke with finality, Elijah stood, nodding. He walked away from him, towards the door.

"Be careful, Niklaus." He said before exiting the room. Once Klaus was sure he was out of earshot, he spoke.

"I'm trying."

_-j-_

I walked into my room, shutting the door after me in welcome isolation. The room had never seemed more inviting.

After my strange conversation with Rebekah, my mind was reeling. _Be careful._ Resonated through my brain. Why would she say that about her own brother?

I had come to the conclusion that the Mikaelson family was built off of secrets, and I shuddered to think of what the creators of such a family would be like. I was itching for something, but I couldn't seem to clear my mind.

I peeled myself out of the dress that he gave me, leaving it in a pool of expensive fabric on the floor. I then crawled naked into the cool confines underneath of the comforter on the bed, even tugging it above my head. I felt the need to escape to the abyss of sleep, even though it was midday. Spending a couple of hours with the Mikaelsons will do that to you.

My mind was still racing when sleep managed to find me.

_-j-_

He couldn't help but groan when another knock sounded at his study door. Surely another one of his angry siblings coming to berate him.

He hit the nail on the head as Rebekah stormed in, not waiting for a reply to his knock. Her face was the perfect picture of irate anger.

"Nik! How dare you!" She said, and it would be yelling but she managed to keep it under a subdued level. He raised his eyebrows.

"How have I managed to upset you now, darling?" He asked in a somewhat calm voice as his sister seated herself in the chair Elijah vacated not too long ago. Her eyes blazed. It was a familiar look to him now.

"Why are you toying with an innocent girl?" She questioned him outright, and Klaus' anger was peaked once again. Why in the hell did his family have no boundaries when it came to Caroline? Any other girl and they wouldn't have cared what kind of games he was playing. And innocent? Not exactly the descriptor he'd use for Caroline.

"Toying? Rebekah, I don't have time for this. You barely even know the girl, let's not act like you are some kind of guardian angel." He said and his little sister's body now shook with anger.

"Actually, I think you'll find I've spent more time getting to know her than you!" Rebekah exclaimed, and Klaus' jaw ticked.

"Rebekah. What are you getting at?" His patience, not that he really had any to begin with, was wearing thin. Her eyebrows raised in challenge.

"Nik, you are using tactics against her that she doesn't even know yet." She said almost slyly, and Klaus' nostrils flared.

"What. Are. You. Talking. About." He managed to get out. Its times like these he regrets not permanently keeping his siblings daggered.

"The lovely girl you're so stuck on is a _virgin._" Klaus' brain immediately cleaned blank. It couldn't possibly be true. A virgin? But, she would have told him, wouldn't she?

"Rebekah, if I find out you're playing with me-"

"Nik, I swear to you that I am not."

"How do you know this?" Klaus' eyes narrowed. How could _he_ not have known? A centuries old vampire and he had been blind to this? For all the times he had kissed her he noticed her hesitance, but he figured she was simply shy. _Not_ a virgin.

Something inside of him stretched excitedly at the thought that she was unclaimed in every way, but he kept that at bay for now.

"She told me. I mean, I guessed it first, call it women's intuition, but she's not exactly good at keeping a secret." Klaus was at a loss.

"What am I to do?" He said, and even though it was more of a thought slipped out loud, Rebekah's eyes softened.

"Nik, go easy on her."

"I'm not exactly the best at that."

"You'll try for her." She responded, and she sounded sure for some reason. He stood up abruptly.

"Where are you going?"

"To see her, of course."

_-j-_

I wasn't exactly sleeping when I heard the door to my room open, more like daydreaming. And instead of lifting my head from the covers to confront whoever had come in, I decided to stay tucked away in the now sweltering heat underneath my covers.

"Caroline." Klaus called, and despite the warmth I was surrounded by, I shivered. His voice did things to me. I still refused to pull the covers back, and he chuckled. I was sure by now he had seen my dress on the floor and had deduced that I was naked. I could hear his footsteps nearing me.

"Love, are you hiding from me?" He asked, and there was a predatory edge to his already dark tone. I hummed in response. I wouldn't call it hiding exactly, just that I was emotionally exhausted and had no wishes to face him right now.

"Hmm. Well, if you don't come out in five seconds, I'll just have to find you." He said, and now there was a playful layer to his voice. He found this amusing. And to think I had thought myself the cat on the first night I met him. I could almost laugh at myself now. With this man I was most certainly the mouse.

Suddenly the comforter was pulled back and a ray of blinding sunshine snuck through the opening. I shrieked in surprise, burrowing further away from the light and yanking the covers back down, effectively hiding from him again. I could hear his carefree laugh and I smiled. He had a nice laugh.

Then I heard some clunking against the marble flooring as I assumed he removed his shoes and they fell to the ground. The covers were lifted again, except this time I had nowhere to run to and this time he climbed in. I could feel the powerful aura that constantly surrounded him now magnified as we both hid in the darkness. I was now very aware of how naked I was. I couldn't see a thing, though, and this made it slightly less embarrassing.

We weren't touching, yet, but I felt incredibly close to him in that moment.

"What are you doing in here love?" He asked, and his voice was soft and almost comforting. Oh, how quickly his moods shifted. I shivered involuntarily as I felt him move closer to me.

"I was sleeping." I murmured, my voice tiny in the darkness. His hand suddenly came into contact with my bare stomach, and he left it laying there. I felt him sidle up to my side, so that one half of me was completely abuzz with arousal. He, of course, was still clothed but when my revealed skin brushed up against the roughness of the fabric of his clothing I couldn't help a gasp.

"Sleeping? What tired you?" He questioned as his hand still lay, unmoving, distractingly, on my stomach. I turned my head to face him, not that it was of any use in the pitch black.

"You." I said very quietly, and I heard his intake of breath, so close to me. I closed my eyes as I felt his lips brush against my cheek, and they slowly moved down past my ear, along my neck, and finally reaching my shoulder. It was incredibly erotic that I couldn't see anything, including him, but was forced to focus solely on his touch, my whole body honed in on where his lips went.

"Caroline." I felt a sharp tingle up my spine as he said my name. It was delicious coming from his accented mouth. "What made you decide against any clothing?" He spoke against my skin, and I'm sure he felt the goose bumps there.

"The lack of access to night wear." I answered and I felt his smile on my skin.

"Are you trying to torture me, love?" He asked and I could tell there were two meanings to his question. His mouth moved laterally, over my collarbone. It stopped and he pressed a kiss to my skin.

"Maybe." My voice came out a breathy whisper as the hand still immobile on my stomach held me captive. He chuckled darkly at my words. Then suddenly his lips were on mine, effectively ending his questioning.

His mouth moved rhythmically against mine in a way that I found familiar now, though no less arousing. His tongue battled with mine and won, exploring my mouth with expertise. My hands reached out to loose themselves in his unruly hair and I urged him closer into my mouth, feeling desire shoot mercilessly through my center.

His hand moved then, down to my hip and his body shifted so that he was now above me, his hand pulling me into his clothed body. I didn't remember to feel self-conscious about my nakedness, though his clothing brushed roughly against my skin whenever he moved. It had the same effect. His hands then moved to my thighs and pulled them gently apart so that he could settle in between them.

My legs moved of their own accord to wrap around his lithe torso and I moaned quietly into his mouth as the rough material of his pants rubbed against my core. It was just not painful. His lips broke away from mine suddenly and I whimpered at the loss of contact.

"Caroline…" His voice was husky and I could tell something was wrong but I kept my legs latched around his waist. "Why did you not tell me of your innocence?" He asked quietly.

I was suddenly grateful for us still being underneath the covers, as he couldn't see my immediate blush. I knew exactly what he was referring to and I silently cursed Rebekah for telling him.

"I… I don't know." I said quietly, and my hands were still in his hair. "It isn't exactly something I bring up in everyday conversation." I was blushing again.

"But wouldn't you think I would want to know?" His question caught me off guard. He didn't sound angry exactly, just… I wasn't sure what was going on inside his head, as per usual.

"I guess so." I murmured and he sighed. My fingers moved slightly in his hair. "I'm sorry." I offered quietly.

"You needn't apologize, love." He said gently, and his hand shifted on my bare hip. I couldn't believe we were having a conversation in such an intimate position, as I was still throbbing with desire.

"But you are angry with me?" I asked, for it was what I was afraid of.

"No. I'm just… surprised." He said quietly, and his blessed accent gave me chills. Mmm. I've managed to surprise him, I suppose that's good. He moves suddenly to wrap his arms around my waist and tugs so that I was crushed against him, slightly smothered in his arms. I couldn't help my smile. His embrace was incredibly comforting.

Silence befell us, but we remained wrapped up in each other underneath of the covers. He seemed to be quite unaffected, but I was aching for him to continue. My hands fell to his shoulders, and I urged him closer so that my mouth was at his ear.

"Klaus." My voice was husky and wanton. "I want you." It came out a heady whisper, and I felt his surprising growl vibrate against me. I was quivering. And to think I thought him unaffected, for I could feel him harden in between my legs.

His lips sought out mine again and we played the same dance of control, and similar to all the other times, he won it. I was a slave for his touch as his hand traveled down from my hip, brushing softly against my quivering core. I gasped at the contact.

Touches that left me whimpering were given, and they seemed to say _"I know you. I know what makes you feel fire."_ And I did, deep inside of me. He left a trail of sloppy kisses across my neck after breaking our kiss, until he reached a spot just under my jaw that made me moan when he sucks on it. So he did, and my ardent moans fill our hideaway under the covers.

My hips undulated against his hand as it worked miracles, and he wasn't taking any prisoners. The roughness of his touch left me breathless, and I called his name as his other hand cups my breast. My entire body ached for more.

I reached up to blindly unbutton his shirt, wanting to feel his skin on mine. I made my way down his shirt, and in the darkness it's slow. Finally I reached the final button, and he aided me in pushing his shirt off of his broad shoulders.

Since I was blind in the dark and my eyes were closed anyways, so I explored the planes of his body with my hands. He was toned, but not bulky, more of the lean type that I adored. My hands moved across his chest as I explored the dips and curves of his sinewy muscle. I suddenly reached the edge of his pants and he bit down bluntly on the skin of my neck where he had been sucking.

His hand moved infinitesimally faster against my center, drawing moans from my mouth as his fingers came in contact with my bud. I was quaking under the pressure, but I managed to undo the button of his pants.

Courage from somewhere inside of me seeped through and I moved my hand into his pants. Of course Klaus had gone commando, so I came into immediate contact with his hard member. It was throbbing, and I wrapped my hand hesitantly around the thick shaft. He groaned into my shoulder.

I began to move my hand up and down, in time with his own hand that still moved against my center. His cock was stone wrapped in velvety softness, and I was enthralled by the feel of it. I was nearing a cliff, standing on the precipice. It was like nothing I had ever known before. I moved my hand faster and he suddenly plunged a finger inside of me.

The movement surprised me and I called out his name instinctively. My hand stopped as I was left immobile from his touch, and his finger increased pace inside of me. I was shaking in seconds. Then, all at once, he curled the singular finger in me and tugs down on my clit and I fell right off of the cliff.

I was moaning his name as I came, my eyes squeezed shut and my whole body singed from the waves of pleasure. I felt a sharp pain as he bit down again on my shoulder. It was all-encompassing, the way he made me feel, and it was something I was never had before. My walls clenched around his finger as he moved it again, riding out my orgasm. Pleasure was still tearing through my body minutes later, and I couldn't help but think this was not normal. I was gasping for breath when my body eventually calmed down.

He pulled his finger out of me as I tried to regain the ability to think, and he gripped my wrist to pull my hand out of his pants. Klaus moved his head so that it was buried in my chest, and I was certain he could hear my pounding heart from his position. His weight felt delicious on top of me. I moved my limp hands so that I could wrap my fingers in his curls.

"I, I can't." I heard him say moments later and my brow furrowed as my fuddled brain comprehended what he was saying. "It's way too much." He said quietly, and I was left utterly confused.

"Klaus, what's wrong?" I asked timidly, my voice betraying how aroused I still felt. He was still resting in between my thighs.

"I can't keep in control." He confessed, but I was still confused. It didn't sound like he was talking to me, more to himself. "You're so goddamn fragile." He spoke, and now his tone was steeped in anger. Before I could answer, not that I had a clue as to what to say, he rolled off of me and I whimpered as his body scraped against mine with the action.

He was out of the covers and I heard him walking further away from me before I even knew what was happening.

"Klaus, wait-" The slam of the door cut me off.

I was left alone in my secret hideaway, shaking, aroused, and confused out of my mind.

**Author's Note:**

**Whew. First major smut scene, check. Please please review and tell me what you think of it, I'm still a little shaky on the smut front and would love some direction from you guys.**

**So, we definitely see Caroline's and Rebekah's relationship developing here, as so many of you guys requested to see. Klaus pinned it perfectly "her guardian angel", just how far can angel's fly, though?**

**And in this chapter Klaus finally finds out that Caroline is indeed a virgin. A couple of you asked about this plot line, and yes it will play a part. I wanted both of them to start off extremely confident in themselves and then find out that they're actually quite weak in some aspects. Here's one of Caroline's, and you'll see more for Klaus if you haven't figured it out already ;)**

**Also, how often do you guys want updates? At the pace I'm writing right now I could do every other day *tentative, I'm in school*, but would this time frame be too often for you guys? LET ME KNOW.**

**I'm really excited about the upcoming chapters, there are definitely some great Klaroline moments that I love and some outside characters digging their way in. xx**

**Review, review, review! I want to hear all of your thoughts! Even the bad ones!**

**Best,**

**J.**


	5. Chapter V

He practically used vampire speed as he ran down the stairway, ignoring Kol's calls that he heard from the foyer. He flung open the door and wrenched open the backseat door to one of his cars, and the driver ran up.

"To town." He growled, not even trying to contain his vampiric face. The driver started the car and began the long journey out of the driveway to his palace. But he was going much, much too slow. So Klaus demanded he stopped the car and he yanked the driver out of his seat, snapping the man's neck before climbing into the seat himself.

He could still hear her calling his name even as he put miles in between them. The way she had been shaking, so in tune with his touch, her entire body a painting worthy of the Louvre. He was aware that she couldn't have seen in the darkness, but he could and now every detail of her naked body wracked with pleasure was etched into his mind.

But her voice wasn't the only thing he could hear. Her blood had been thumping wildly from her heart, each pulse point like a fucking siren to him. It had taken all of the self-control he had (and the memory of her torn up body from another vampire) to not tear his teeth through her life source. It had practically killed him.

And to think she was still there, in bed, naked and wanting, made him want to turn the damn car around and race back to properly ruin her. But she was _human _and if he did that she would without a doubt be dead by the time he was finished.

This girl was going to be the death of him.

_-j-_

"Rebekah? Rebekah?" I yelled uncertainly from the doorway to my room, blankets now wrapped around me. I needed a little assistance, and I really had no clue who else to ask.

I heard the blonde woman's dainty footsteps climbing the stairs moments later, giving me a half-incredulous, half-amused look.

"Did you just call upon me, naked?" Rebekah questioned, her eyebrows raised. I blushed as I realized how forthright that was.

"Well, I just hate to get back into dirty clothes and I don't have any idea where any would be and Klaus disappeared, so… I called you." I said sheepishly, still standing awkwardly in the doorway. She smiled at me.

"Come along, I'll give you some clothing." She said in faux exasperation, waving her hand at me. I followed as we walked right from my room, opposite from the side of the cursed drawing room, and she opened the third door.

I expected it to be her bedroom, but it definitely wasn't. I gasped as I took in all of the fine clothing that must have been in some kind of giant closet. I walked up to one particularly stunning dress, dark red in color.

"These are all yours?" I asked, blown away by the quality and quantity. I blushed as I recalled back in the city when I had stolen a dress from her. The closet there definitely didn't look like this one. I was suddenly glad she didn't know I was a con artist.

"Yes." She said dreamily, lost in thought for a moment. Then she shook her head and looked at me, taking in my figure. "We travel a lot and I like to collect something from each country." We both fell into silence then, me in awe of the clothing and her in search for something for me to wear.

"Here." Rebekah said and proffered a dress from the depths of one of the alcoves. It was of a deep emerald color and looked to reach mid-thigh, rather short for a day dress, and was of a fabric I didn't know. It had a white Peter Pan collar and buttons all the way up the back, finishing with a satin black bow near the neck. She also handed me a bra and a fresh pair of panties, and I was grateful. I pulled the dress over my head and glanced at my reflection in a floor length mirror near me. It fell just so, and I managed to look sophisticated but not boring. I smiled.

Though when you looked closely my lips were swollen from his kisses and there was another love bite peeking out from under the collar and my hair was an absolute mess, but I ignored that.

"Thank you, it's the berries." I could see Rebekah's small smile in the reflection of the mirror, but she hid it quickly. I had begun to get the impression that she didn't have very many friends and I wondered why.

"Sure. You can check me later." She said cheekily, and her accent shone through. I laughed. I sat down in one of the plush chairs that were scattered through the room, and Rebekah sank down into one opposite me.

"Why did Klaus leave?" She asked suddenly, and of course I blushed. I was still sore.

"On the level?" I asked and she nodded.

"I'm not really sure." She raised her eyebrows as if to say continue, and I shrugged. I wasn't exactly willing to tell her that her brother made me come and then disappeared just as quickly as he had arrived. "Well, we were together, and stuff happened… And then he left." Rebekah's eyes widened in comprehension.

"How far?" She questioned in surprise and I was taken aback momentarily by her audacity.

"I'm still pure, if that's what you're questioning." I muttered, embarrassed.

"Did he say anything to you?"

"I don't really know." I shook my head, not really willing to discuss Klaus' brashness in bed. "He said something like you're so goddamn fragile and something about control and then bolted." I spoke quickly. Her laugh resonated through the room.

"Oh, sweet Caroline, you're going to be the death of him."

_-j-_

I laid wide awake above the covers of my bed, staring at the blank ceiling that offered me zero answers. I just couldn't fall asleep with so much running through my mind.

_What was I doing?_

I needed to get out of this wretched palace full of strange people and strange accents before I lost my mind. I needed home with its well-worn flooring and warm colored walls. I needed, I needed- _him. _

His kiss still burned my lips and anytime I thought too much about it I would begin to ache with want for him.

His touch was still searing across my skin and I couldn't forget the silken feel of his body.

It was an endless cycle of wanting to escape and wanting him.

I stood up, now dressed in the flimsy night gown Klaus had clothed me in my first night here, and walked carefully across my room. I didn't want to wake anyone with my sleepless wandering.

Klaus must be asleep right? If he was even back from god knows where. I figured I was safe to explore.

My feet padded quietly across the marble flooring, so unlike home, and I turned left again in search of something I didn't know yet. I tried my luck on the drawing room door, wanting to see that painting again, but it was still locked. I cursed quietly and kept walking.

A couple of doors down from that there was a door that was left just barely open, the first one I had come across. I peeked inside.

There he was, tucked under the covers and breathing heavily like a small child after a day full of play. I had discovered his bedroom. Moonlight filled the large room, casting shadows across his handsome face. Like a moth drawn to the light I walked in, inching closer to him.

His face was incredibly calm in sleep, none of the calculating looks and smirks present that I was used to bearing the brunt of in his waking hours.

I barely even knew what I was doing as my hand reached forward and pulled back the covers at his side, crawling in next to him. I pulled the thick comforter over me once I was lying next to him, and I snuggled closer. It was instinctive, to want to be with him.

Klaus suddenly shifted in his sleep, his arm reaching out. I stopped breathing as his strong arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me further into his side. My eyes widened as he kept the arm there, his hand resting on the small of my back, seemingly still asleep.

I found myself settling into his embrace, my eyelids finally growing heavy as sleep crawled up on me. And in the warmth of his arms I drifted into a peaceful slumber.

_-j-_

Kol paced back and forth in front of Klaus' bedroom door, considering his options. Should he tell his older brother of the news he had received from a messenger out of Greece that Mikael had been spotted there? Waking Klaus was never a fun task.

He quietly turned the knob of the door, deciding he had better.

The sight there shocked him, and he froze.

There Klaus was lying fast asleep with _Caroline_ in his arms. Kol had never, not once in their almost thousand year existence, seen Klaus sleeping with someone. He inched closer, curious as to whether this was a mirage.

But no, there was the blonde human with her back to Klaus, sharing the same pillow as him. He had his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer, and his face buried in the crook of her neck. The outline of the covers around their bodies showed just how closely Klaus had curved his own body against hers.

It could really only be described as a lover's hold.

Kol shook his head in disbelief, backtracking through the room. He was really better off not waking Klaus right now.

He shut the door behind him just as quietly as he had opened it, shaking off the plaguing thought that those two were in trouble.

_-j-_

Early morning sunlight burned against his eyelids, forcing them open. Klaus blinked a couple of times, and involuntarily tightened his hold on the body curved against his. Wait.

_What._

He looked down, his eyes widening as he took in Caroline's head resting on his bare chest, her breath fanning gently across his skin as she slept on. Her arm was wrapped around his waist, her leg entwined around one of his, and the warmth of her body seeped through the thin night dress she was wearing.

Klaus was sure he was still dreaming as he took in the sight of a true angel sleeping next to him, halfway on top of him.

Had she come to him in the night? It was impossible. But as he moved his hand down her back and she instinctively straightened in her sleep, Klaus knew her to be real and actually there. He shook his head, considering his options.

Maybe this was the perfect chance to kill her. He really should. Had that not been the decision last night when he had finally retired from pillaging the town, to kill her? But now, looking down at her peaceful sleeping form wrapped around him he couldn't bring himself to do it. _Weak. _His subconscious thought viciously.

She stirred in her sleep, pushing herself closer to him. He couldn't help his smile. He decided wickedly that she needed a wake-up call.

_-j-_

The first thing I felt as sleep abandoned me was a certain warmth on my mouth. In fact, I felt warm all over. My limbs were caged by something and the intoxicating heat on my lips was coaxing me out of sleep.

I opened my eyes to come into direct confrontation with Klaus' oceanic blue eyes. Momentarily I was utterly surprised and then I recalled sneaking into his bed last night. He pulled away from kissing me and I pouted at the loss.

"Ah, sweet Caroline, finally wake." He said in a teasing tone and I blushed. His hands were holding my wrists captive.

"Klaus." Was all I could manage to get out in a husky voice, sleep dampening my throat. And his touch.

"Imagine my surprise when I awoke this morning to find such unexpected company in my bed." He smirked as he leaned down to kiss my neck, once. "A lovely surprise, no doubt, but curious nonetheless." He voiced, staring down at me. I was a mouse under his scrutiny.

"Were you having trouble sleeping in your own bed?" Klaus asked in as faux concerned voice. I nodded briefly. He smiled. "And you thought that you'd come to my bed for some… comfort?" He asked as he leaned down again, this time kissing me on my lips. He was practically sitting on me, his hips pressed against mine, and I was unable to move.

"Yes." I breathed and my voice was still husky from sleep. He hummed against my throat.

"Well, why don't I show you just how comforting I can be?" Klaus mused and I found myself whimpering in agreement. His hands traveled down to the end of my night dress and tugged upwards to signal that he wanted it off. I obliged by sitting up and he pulled it over my head.

"Are you sore?" He asked softly and I blushed immediately, he was so audacious. Similar to a certain someone. I could only manage a brief nod to his question. "Mmm, how else to give you a little… comfort?" He asked and his eyes were blazing as he looked up at me while leaving a trail of kisses down my décolletage. It was intimate, the way he looked at me. Like he was reading my mind.

His hands wrapped under me to unclasp the dainty white lace covered bra Rebekah had given me, and he yanked it off with no further warning. I was revealed to his softened but no less aroused gaze and my breathing became labored.

Without warning his mouth wrapped around one of my taut peaks and I actually screamed on contact. I couldn't see his smile, but I knew it was there. His movements were gentle, but his mouth felt rough against my sensitive nipple. He sucked lightly while his hand cupped the other, his thumb sweeping across my bud, hardening it. I was absolute putty in his hands.

My own hands reached up to play with his hair, but he immediately stopped what he was doing and looked at me, grabbing my wrists and putting them at my sides. I pouted.

"Let's play a game, love. You like those, don't you?" Klaus' eyes flashed something fierce and I nodded slowly, blinking as I looked down at him. I really just wanted him to continue. "We can test your resolve, can't we?" I nodded again.

"No touching, unless I say so." Klaus commanded and I paused before nodding slowly. He held me down with his gaze for a second longer and then inched down my body, very slowly.

His hand grabbed one of my feet and I practically giggled, I was so ticklish. He pressed a single kiss to my instep, and then repeated it to the other. We maintained scintillating eye contact the entire time. He set my leg down, but pressed a kiss to one of my ankles. His mouth then ran up my leg, reaching my knee, while his hand followed on the other side.

Klaus licked the underside of my knee softly and my mouth fell open as I groaned, desire shooting straight to my core. He continued traveling up, studiously avoiding my center. I fisted my hands in the sheets in frustration as I fiercely regretted admitting to my soreness there.

Decidedly teasing me to a maximum level Klaus traced his hands on my thighs before reaching up and sliding my delicate panties down my legs, but not touching the part where I needed him at all. My hands were itching to touch him as he left a sloppy trail of kisses up my stomach, reaching my belly button.

His tongue licked around the circle as his hands reached up to cup my breasts, and my back arched involuntarily, pushing my breasts into his hands as another moan fell from my mouth. He growled and the vibration sent shivers across my whole body.

Kisses were bestowed on the underside of my breasts as he traveled further up, his whole body sliding against mine. It was the first time I realized that he was shirtless and only wearing soft pajama pants, the most casual I had ever seen him. My hands were absolutely begging to touch him. To force him to do _something._

Again he ignored the hot spots of pleasure as he placed kisses in the valley between my breasts and I whimpered. I was so wet and he hadn't even touched me. He sucked again on the spot below my jaw that he found yesterday evening, and he had me moaning. He left the spot with a parting kiss.

Our mouths connected then and it was desperate and messy on my part, taunting and controlled on his. My hands automatically reached up to touch him and then I recalled the rule and they fell uselessly to my sides. I groaned in frustration. He pulled away from my mouth.

"I'm sorry, love. Was there something you wanted?" Damn him! He was using my inexperience and my stubbornness against me. He was well aware that I would never give in and tell him that I wanted him, and it was such a cruel trick. I was bested so I whimpered in response. He laughed.

"You don't find me comforting?" He asked and it was a not so subtle reminder that I sought him out last night. I blushed.

"Klaus, please." His eyes flashed as I begged. My hands were in fists at my sides in order to keep to his rules.

"I could have mercy on you, Caroline." He said and I nodded shamelessly, eagerly. My body was aching for an orgasm. His wicked hands traveled upwards from my hips, which swiveled impatiently, soreness be damned.

His hands then cupped my breasts, which were now tender and aching. The rough pads of his thumbs swept against my rosy nipples that hardened even further. I arched into his touch, again. I cried out then as his talented fingers pinched my nipples, before massaging my soft mounds gently in apology. It became a mind-blowing cycle of pleasure and pain, though mostly pleasure. My eyes were squeezed shut.

The fact that I knew he was going to stop any second now had me building faster than I thought imaginable. It was like I was chasing the sun under a stopwatch, and he was Helios, burning my insides deliciously. Despite our game, he didn't stop his torturous movements and I wrapped my legs around his hips, no touching rule be damned, and urged him into me.

Our hips were rocking violently against each other's, I refused to believe it was just mine, when I came the first time. It was as earth-shattering as my first ever and my hands reached up to clutch into his already unruly hair, I definitely lost the game then, as I shamelessly moaned loudly into his ear. I heard my name cross his lips as I was still arching under the aftereffects.

He didn't stop moving though, and he didn't release his prison-like hold over my body. I was completely lost in sea of sensations as his mouth descended on my breasts, licking and sucking, his hands flitting over sensitive spots of my body with a touch that was light but mesmerizing.

My hands were clutching onto his shoulders, fingernails digging into his skin, and his attention was still focused mainly on my bouncing breasts, it was from his violent thrusts, I was certain that the passionate movements weren't just from me then, when my second orgasm hit full force. By the time it was finished plundering my body for all it was worth I was shaking helplessly, moans and his name falling seamlessly and unwarranted from my mouth.

He had my hands in his hair now as his mouth traveled further down and it was with a decidedly gentle flick of his tongue that my already over-sensitive core was teased. I ardently pushed on his head, wordlessly urging him to continue and his hands reached up to hold my bucking and uncontrollable hips down as his mouth teased and controlled all at once.

My skin was flushed and I shook my head, for really, how many orgasms can one body take in a matter of seconds, and his mouth suddenly latched onto my clit when my roaring and painful and bittersweet third orgasm racked through in delicious tremors. My heart was pounding furiously against my sternum, making me feel like I was going to die if he stopped holding me.

"Caroline." He growled and maybe it was the way he said it or maybe it was his accent or maybe it was the vibration from his voice and the way my body seemed to be so attuned to his in that moment, fusing into one, but this brought about a fourth and practically mind-altering orgasm. I was a mass of nerves when he finally pulled away from my absolutely quivering body, and my hands reached mindlessly out to him as he shifted.

The first thing I noticed was that he was breathing hard. I thought it was the first time I had heard him breathing unevenly, or shown any effect from our interactions at all. My limbs were incredibly loose, but I was aware that I was wrapped up in Klaus.

He pulled the covers up over my glowing body, still singing from the multiple climaxes, while I lost the fight to keep my eyelids open. The last thing I registered was his voice, deep and rough from my position on his chest.

"You lost the game."

I knew that.

"How comforting." I murmured slyly and he chuckled darkly.

Except, I wasn't exactly feeling like a loser.

_-j-_

He pulled gently away from her slumbering form, extracting his arm that was underneath her carefully. His head was swimming with emotions as he made his way into the en suite, shutting the door quietly.

His sigh was almost immediate as he realized that he was still half-hard from the sensations. It was supposed to be a game that he would be the clear cut winner of, and now he was stuck between a rock and, well, a hard place. He groaned. _Caroline would be able to help you with this situation, but you can't control yourself. _A voice in his mind snidely added.

Klaus wanted nothing more than to walk in there and ravage her. She was willing, too. And while he had managed to hold back his fangs from dropping or his vampiric face from appearing, he had no delusions that he would be able to control anything when he was actually inside her. He was getting better, but she was definitely still his undoing.

Frustrated, he suddenly slammed his fist into the mirror that was next to his shoulder, and it shattered, spilling into a million pieces at his feet. He could see his broken reflection in the shards, and he turned away so he didn't have to look at his now black gaze.

He turned around to open the door in the hopes that he could sneak past Caroline without smelling her heat and go spill some blood all over the neighboring town, but when he walked into his room she was already gone, leaving him with sheets that smelt of her and the memory of her fragile body in them.

Klaus groaned as he fell back onto the bed.

_-j-_

It was a weak smile that was planted on my face as I slipped on my night dress and snuck quietly out of Klaus' room while he was in the bathing room.

Finally I was able to best him at leaving first, hopefully walking away with him still wanting, and my smile grew more triumphant the further I walked. It dropped the second I realized I had forgotten my underwear behind and also when I looked up to see Elijah standing a few feet away.

"Hi." I said shyly, blushing as I kept my eyes on the floor. How embarrassing. Elijah was staring at me with a burning gaze, and it was nothing like the fiery looks Klaus gave me. This one spoke of real anger.

"Caroline, what are you doing?" He asked in a calm voice, his hands in his slacks' pockets as he walked towards me.

"I… I was just um, talking to… Klaus?" I stuttered out, trailing off as his gaze darkened when I mentioned his brother's name. He was eyeing me speculatively, still walking forward, when he spoke again.

"You really mustn't bother him." Bother him? His voice held a dangerous edge that Klaus' often had, but this one scared me. I didn't trust him at all, damn those deceiving eyes.

"Sorry." I said meekly. He reached his hand out to cup my cheek and I flinched at the gesture, wanting to pull away, but his eyes were holding me in place.

"Don't apologize when I should be apologizing to you, young Caroline." He said eerily and my brows furrowed together in question. Apologize for what?

"Why would you need to be sorry?" I managed to get out under his harsh glare. I was practically shaking in fear.

"For what I'm about to do." He said quietly. Elijah closed his eyes for a second, mouthing something in reverence, before opening them and I screamed.

His eyes, they were the ones that haunted my nightmares. Pitch black and threatening. I attempted to step back, but now he had a hand wrapped around my shoulder and he jerked me back when I tried to move, covering my screaming mouth with his hand.

I felt sharp nails plunge into the soft skin at the skin of my neck, and my eyes widened at the realization that I was going to die.

**Author's Note:**

**You guys said you wouldn't mind quick updates so here I am!**

**So woah, danger on the home front! Review, review, review, they encourage me so much! And I'll try my best to answer all of you this time, I have been slacking lately. xx**

**As you can see I've taken a much different approach to the character of Elijah in that I'm not playing off of his honorableness but more his nobility and loyalty. Kind of Brutus Shakespearean _Julius Caesar-_esque, if that made any sense. Basically he's not making his decisions right now because he personally wants to, but because he believes them to be for the good of the Mikaelsons. **

**Also I have a one-shot Klaroline story in the works and I'm curious if any of you would be interested in me posting it. LET ME KNOW. **

**Okay, so enough blabbering on my part, now it's your turn! xx.**

**Best, **

**J.**


	6. Chapter VI

Klaus shot ram rod straight up from his bed at the sound of Caroline's blood-curdling scream just outside his door. He flashed to the entrance of his room but paused just as he was about to turn the knob.

_What if it was Mikael?_

Then he should run, he really should run. Take what he needed and book it, like he always did. But terrible memories of Caroline shaking in pain and covered with bites, her torn skin open to the air, plagued his mind. A feeling he had never known washed over him, a terrible need to protect her.

Damn it all, he thought as he wrenched open the door.

The sight before him made his blood boil. Elijah had his hands on Caroline, and it actually took him a second to realize that it was in a painful way, that's how blinding his jealousy momentarily was. Red tinged the outskirts of his vision.

"ELIJAH." He roared and his brother's eyes, black with vampirism, snapped up to meet his. "Let her go." He commanded in a voice that was much shakier than he wished it to be.

"Brother, you know how much I wish I could. But you are too weak to do this, and she cannot live while she poses as such a dangerous distraction." Elijah said calmly and Klaus watched, horrified, as his nails dug further into the side of Caroline's neck. He had kissed that same spot in worship not an hour ago. Caroline's second scream came out gargled as she fought to breathe.

Klaus wasn't even thinking about how he really should let Elijah kill his weakness when he flashed forward, ripping Caroline from his brother's arms before reaching out and wrapping his hand around Elijah's neck.

He lifted him off the ground and threw his brother against the wall, which cracked in two places with the impact of his force. He could hear Caroline's whimpering behind him as she continued to bleed out. He had seconds, if not moments left.

Elijah stood up, his arms braced out for Klaus' attack. His eyes flashed with sorrow.

"Brother, I am sorry for having to hurt her, but there was no other choice." He spoke and Klaus realized he was speaking in past tense in reference to Caroline. He whipped around, rushing to her. This couldn't be happening. He wanted to close his eyes as he took in her appearance.

She lay shaking on the ground in a puddle of her own blood, her crystal blue eyes rolling back into her head. Her skin was ghastly pale and her hair lay in a messy halo around her head. Klaus desperately avoided the smell of her spilled blood. Now was not the time to lose it. He lifted her neck gently off of the ground and her head lolled back. _She can't be dead, not her._

His fangs dropped and he tore them through his own skin, then shoved his wrist into her mouth.

"Drink Caroline, fucking drink!" He screamed in fear. His blood smeared around her mouth but none of it actually did anything. She didn't move, at all. Worthless. Caroline just limply lay there in his shaking arms.

Moments went by and he screwed his eyes shut as he refused to believe what had happened. He was too late. He would never admit that tears were pricking the back of his eyes. Had failed her. How could he have let her die in his own home?

Elijah still stood behind him, and Klaus could hear his brother's labored breathing as he attempted to put back together his broken doll.

Her eyelids suddenly fluttered and he felt a soft and weak sucking on the open skin of his wrist as she obeyed his command.

He tilted his head back in relief, though he would also refuse to admit ever admit that.

Once he saw her wound close shut and her skin regain some color he wrapped one of his arms around her neck and the other around her legs, carefully lifting her still limp body up. He flashed into his room, setting her down onto his bed and wrapping her up in blankets before rushing back out to face his brother.

"You shouldn't have done that." Klaus said in a much calmer voice now that he knew she was alive. He and his brother began to move in a predatory circle, walking carefully around the hallway. A dance they both knew well, but Klaus knew just a bit better.

"I had to." Elijah said regretfully.

"Then you understand that you must pay for your actions." Klaus murmured, almost in regret, as he rushed forward with a movement too fast for even his brother to see and stabbed the dagger he kept in his waistband into Elijah's heart.

Their eyes, so similar in color, connected for a moment and then his brother fell out of his hands and onto the floor, his skin graying and veins protruding. He had never been given the opportunity to answer.

"Until next time, brother." Klaus said and walked away from the body of Elijah, and back to his Caroline.

_-j-_

He walked carefully into his bedroom, shutting his door. Klaus glanced up and was immediately met with the penetrating gaze of Caroline. He shuddered, that look saw right through him. But was it… angry? Was she _angry_ with him?

He stood there, staring at her, leaning against the door, unsure of what to say. She sat there, in his bed, glaring at him, preparing what to say. Her wounds were completely healed but it appeared there was some damage on the inside as well that his blood hadn't healed.

"Klaus, I want to go home." She voiced abruptly, and he felt something tear into his chest. He had been aware that she didn't necessarily want to be here, but she had never requested to actually go home.

"You can't." Her eyebrows raised infinitesimally in challenge.

"Excuse me?" He walked forward then, sitting down at the edge of the bed. She didn't move away from him, and he took it as a good sign. Her eyes widened though, and he saw the fear buried there. "I don't want to be here." She whispered and he sighed.

"I'm sorry Caroline, love, but you can't." He was well aware that that was one of the only times he had apologized to anyone, ever, let alone a human. What was she doing to him? He wanted to hold her, to assure her, to make every promise under the sun all for her.

"Why not?" She was still whispering. He dragged a frustrated hand over his face. How could he explain all of the reasons she had to stay, all of the reasons he needed her here? It was an endless list, built off of lust and protection and something much deeper. Maybe he should just compel her, but no, that felt wrong.

"You know too much, and there are other… outside dangers." He said quietly, not meeting her eyes anymore. He didn't want to mention that he had a murderous father that would torture her to get information about him. He had a feeling that wouldn't go over well.

"I feel like I don't know anything." She murmured and he looked up to see her eyes brimming with tears. His heart was hurting, a more accurate description would be breaking, but he refused to attribute that to him. Of course the anger towards him was a veil to cover her fear. It was when he looked up at her, it was whatever she saw there, that she inched slightly away.

His hand reached up to grip her knee to stop her and much to his inner pain she flinched in response. Their eyes connected for a moment, but it was brief as she looked away quickly and he needed more.

"What happened to Elijah?" Caroline questioned, her voice shaky and small. He wanted it to be combative and alluring as it normally was.

"I took care of him." She didn't need to know that he had stabbed his own brother, it would probably just make her even more scared of him. What was he supposed to do?

He was used to everything be able to be fixed or taken care of with anger, force, compulsion, or death. But none of those could apply to Caroline.

"What was he?" She asked, her eyes now cast downward. She hadn't removed his hand from her bare knee so he left it there.

"The same thing that I am." He said calmly, noticing now that she was acting like a deer in headlights, all jerky movements and wide eyes. He didn't want to see her like this, afraid of him.

"And what are you?"

"A vampire."

_-j-_

The first thing I wanted to do was laugh, that's how absurd the idea was to me. But his eyes were cold and deadly serious and my body was still a little hindered from fear, so I didn't even crack a smile at his ridiculous suggestion. I just sat there.

"Caroline?" He called and I looked up at him again. He still seemed normal, his eyes of that havoc-wreaking blue that I had practically memorized and I could catch glimpses of his blunt teeth. Still Klaus, I mused.

The idea was just so preposterous to me. Sure, I was aware of the whole 'monsters are actually real' thing, but that was meant to be figurative, wasn't it? And here he was claiming to be a _vampire. _

Elijah's eyes, pitch black and empty, that was the one point holding me back from laughing at Klaus' words.

Those eyes spoke of something not human. I still just couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Prove it to me." I whispered, the words leaving my mouth before I even knew what I was actually saying. His eyes widened.

"Love, I don't think you really want to see that." He said and even though his voice was shaky it still spoke of power that I probably wouldn't ever understand.

"Klaus. Don't treat me as some weak little girl. Show me." I commanded, surprised at how strong my voice sounded when I was actually quaking with fear on the inside. His eyebrows raised at my demanding words.

He inched closer to me so that my crisscrossed knees were touching his own. We sat in mirror images. Our eyes connected, and it was not unlike all of the other times that they had. His a dark and seductive blue and mine, as I was sure, scared and flitting across the room.

He reached out for my hands to hold in his and I allowed him so that I could feel the warmth in his touch when his eyes started to shift. It happened so fast that I almost didn't notice the transition. But suddenly his teeth weren't perfect and blunt, two of them had elongated to form into fangs, passing his lips that had kissed me so many times. His eyes had changed too, and they were black, but not the same as Elijah's. Somehow they were different. Veins under his eyes had also darkened and seemed to raise above the rest.

Somehow I sat there, taking all of this in calmly. He also just sat there, staring at me.

Without even realizing what I was doing, I reached a single finger out and touched the tip of one his fangs. He sat like stone under my investigation, and because his eyes were no longer their expressive blue I had no idea what he was thinking.

My finger continued to move of its own accord as it traced along his jaw, up the side of his face, to his eyes. Then, both of my hands reached up to cup his jaw and my thumbs swept across the veins underneath his eyes. He seemed to be paralyzed, for he hadn't moved once.

This time I knew what my body was doing as I leant forward and placed a single kiss to his lips. When I pulled back and opened my eyes that I didn't know had closed his face had shifted back into normality.

"I wish I knew what you were thinking." Klaus suddenly said, his eyes still locked with mine.

"Oh, so you can't read minds?" I asked and he laughed a little before noticing my glare and stopped. It had been a serious question.

"Of course I can't love." He said in surprise, seemingly unaware of how much I didn't know. Hello? I was suddenly supposed to be an expert on vampires? His smirk told me he somehow found are predicament slightly amusing. That bastard.

"What can you do?" I asked and crossed my arms across my chest defensively, suddenly aware of how underwear less I still was. His eyes flickered distractedly to my chest when I did so, and when they went back up to my face his eyes were fiery.

"I think you're quite aware of what I'm capable of." He answered darkly and goose bumps broke across my skin. His moods shifted so damn fast. God, he was so hot.

The atmosphere had suddenly shifted from honest and open to ridden with desire and heady want, and he swept me along with his dark look. I felt the sudden ache between my thighs that was becoming synonymous with Klaus to me.

He surged forward with a movement I couldn't see (I suddenly understood these lapses in my sight, he was a freaking vampire) and his lip latched onto my own. It was the first time his mouth had ever felt remotely desperate on mine and it was power inducing to know I could make him feel like this.

I reached my hands up to bury them in his curls and used this leverage to pull him closer towards me and we fell back against the satiny sheets of his bed.

Had it not been a mere hour ago that we had been in this same position when he had pleasured me so? How quickly things changed.

But how he affected me hadn't, and I felt a shiver run down my spine as his hands gripped onto my hips, urging my body even closer to his. He suddenly pulled away from our heated kiss, and I whimpered.

"How have you bewitched me so?" He asked quietly, and my eyes opened to meet with his. Something was hidden in the blue depths, something much scarier than the face I had just been shown. Something that back in the city had made me run from almost every man that gave me that look.

I didn't answer, I merely pulled him back to my mouth so that I could close my eyes again. Our kiss lasted not seconds longer before he was trailing his lips down my neck, across my collarbone, until he reached the lacy top of my nightdress.

He pulled the edge of it down and sucked harshly on the skin revealed there. I moaned ardently, already wanting to beg for his touch. The memory of this morning in his bed flashed violently across my lids, and I wanted that again, badly.

That feeling of catapulting into something unknown, not even bothering to look back.

Images of Elijah and his terrifying black eyes suddenly burned across my mind and fear shot through my veins, fighting the desire also pulsing there. Almost as if Klaus could feel my hesitance he pulled away and looked concernedly into my eyes.

Would I ever become accustomed to how alluring his were?

"Caroline, love. What is wrong?" He asked sweetly and I almost wanted to cry. So many emotions had been ripped through me that day and the way he was looking at me was almost too much.

I felt fear from Elijah, sorrow for missing my friends, uncertainty with my place in this monstrous palace, and unshakable lust from the man hovering above me.

"Your brother…" I trailed off, not able to meet his piercing gaze. I was becoming afraid of what he might be capable of. My hand reached up lamely to trace the spot where Elijah's fingers had ripped through my skin. His eyes flickered to the spot of my neck and anger roared in his blue depths.

"I will never be able to apologize enough for his actions." He spoke passionately and as per usual his voice captivated me. He leant forward and pressed a kiss to the spot gently.

"Klaus… it hurt." I whimpered and the tears that had been pricking at the back of my eyes broke forth, a single droplet rolling down my cheek. I hated to be weak but everything that happened in this palace was so magnified by my isolation from home and any of my friends. I was really at mercy to my rampant emotions.

His arms wrapped gently around my body, pulling me into his hard body. He swept the rough pad of his thumb across my cheek to brush away the falling tear. I could tell he was at a loss of what to do. _Same here._

"I'm so sorry Caroline." He whispered and continued to repeat it into my hair and all I wanted to do was fall apart. Here was this man that told me I was stunning and took me to Italy and made feel things I had never imagined and he turned out to be a _vampire. _I was overwhelmed.

"Are you going to kill me?" I asked quietly into his shoulder and I felt him freeze. It had been plaguing my mind since Elijah had attacked me. He had called me a dangerous distraction, what if that was how Klaus saw me as well?

"You think that low of me?" He asked darkly and I remained quiet. I didn't know what to think. Surely I didn't see him as a monster even after seeing his vampiric face, but what could I tell him? I'm afraid of you but you turn me on at the same time? I didn't think that would go over well.

He himself was mesmerizing without the added factor of being a vampire. He suddenly pulled away from the crook of my shoulder and met my eyes, keeping them captive for a moment.

"I will never hurt you, Caroline." He said quietly and his eyes flickered across my face for a moment. "I promise." It was probably not even noon and my whole life had been altered.

"Okay." I whispered and he rolled to the side, off of me. I could tell he was finished with passionate moments for this morning and I almost wanted to pout at this. He pulled me by my waist, turning me so my back was to him and then he enveloped me in his warmth. His lips trailed down the back of my neck, across my bare shoulder blade and then pressed into a kiss. I could feel his sigh fan against my skin.

Despite the fact that he was a vampire and I should have been repulsed by this I found endless comfort in his embrace. Was it wrong to find solace in a monster's touch?

I didn't feel any need to fall asleep as every nerve in my brain was sparked by the recent events so I merely lay there, my breathing evening out slowly and my heart finally calming down. I think Klaus thought me asleep though, for his next words were something I never thought I'd hear him say.

It was spoken quietly and slightly muffled, his lips brushing against the skin of my back, but I heard him perfectly.

"If I lose you Caroline, I will fall apart. Never do that to me again."

_-j-_

Kol walked up the marble staircase, turning towards Klaus' bedroom. He had been hoping that his brother would make an appearance from his room so he could confide in him the recent developments in their Mikael issue, but the man seemed hell bent on nesting in his room with Caroline for the rest of his life.

His eyes widened at the startling image before him. There, in the middle of the hallway, lay Elijah with a dagger stabbed through his heart. _How peculiar. _Something had clearly happened that had prodded Klaus' anger.

His footsteps echoed through the empty palace (Rebekah was off in town finding some new gowns) as he neared Klaus' door. He pressed his ear to the wood in the hopes of figuring out what was going on but he could only hear breathing. He knocked lightly on the door.

"What is it?" He heard Klaus' voice from within and it didn't sound particularly angry.

"Klaus, it is Kol, I need to speak with you. Now." He added on, knowing that Klaus wasn't exactly apt to leave Caroline's side, whom he was now sure was in there at the feminine scent floating through the door. It was like vanilla and light, if that was possible.

"You will come back?" He heard Caroline's voice, small and afraid, whisper through the walls. Her voice sounded very different from the one he had become acquainted with, which was strong and sure.

"Of course." Klaus answered and a second later his brother whipped open the door, stepped into the hallway, and then carefully closed it after him.

They walked together several feet away from Klaus' room, out of human Caroline's earshot and closer to Elijah's body.

"What happened here?" Kol asked carefully, motioning to the body strewn across the marble flooring. It was also the first time he had noticed a crack in the plaster of the wall.

"Our dear brother Elijah attacked Caroline." Klaus said briefly, leaning against the railing on the other side. Kol raised his eyebrows.

"Why?"

"He saw her as a distraction to me." Klaus answered sharply, clearly still ticked off. His eyes then snapped back to Kol. "You would be best off to learn from his mistakes, Kol." It wasn't necessarily a threat and Kol shrugged.

"Believe me, that is not how I see the lovely Caroline." Kol said cheekily, just to piss Klaus off. He could tell that the human girl was his.

"I believe you said you needed to speak with me?"

"Ah, yes, I won't waste your time when you have such a delicious girl waiting for you." Klaus' eyes flashed momentarily, but they both knew he was joking. "Hansel, one of our lookouts, came to tell me early this morning that Mikael was spotted in Greece a few days ago."

"Well. Set up a group of trusted vampires to keep a tight watch around the castle and I don't want us to be making any unnecessary trips into town. Tell Rebekah to contact out friends in Venice to have blood stocks saved up and transportation ready should he pop up." Klaus said in a business-like tone, but his eyes flashed back to his bedroom worriedly.

"Will do, Captain." Kol said and Klaus nodded.

"And, Kol, clean this mess up." He motioned to Elijah's body and a pool of blood nearby. Must have been Caroline's.

"Consider it done."

**Author's Note:**

**Caroline found out the big secret in a big way! Oops. **

**So yes, Elijah is "dead" now, but all of you probably saw that this was listed in the tragedy category as well as romance and I would be prepared for much worse deaths in the future. Also, I'm aware that Elijah is kind of painted in a negative light in this story but that isn't to say I don't like Elijah, I love him, those were just the plans I had in my wicked mind.**

**You guys also see in this chapter a bit more of the depth of Klaus' feelings for Caroline, and some impending dangers. **

**I love writing Kol's point of view, he's one of my favorite Originals, second to Klaus of course. xx**

**I know this chapter is pretty short, but it has some action so I hope you guys don't mind too much.**

**Thanks so much for reading and please comment with all of your thoughts!**

**Best, **

**J. **


	7. Chapter VII

His fingers tapped impatiently against the hard wood surface of the table before him.

He was so close, he could feel victory at his fingertips, and he just had to wait out these next couple of days. Let his prey be distracted in some internal affairs, which was all well and good as he plotted his next move to destroy him.

He had been so close in the city, right there, and it had escaped him. Not this time, certainly not this time. Not when years of his wretched life had passed by in search of this seemingly unattainable goal. His target had proved to be much more cunning than originally conceived.

And now here was some servant telling him there was an unexpected twist in the plot. He was waiting now to hear what it was.

Finally the door to his office room opened and a meek little man walked through, closing the door softly after him.

"Hello, young man. Sit down and tell me what you have found." He spoke in a not unkind voice, but very business-like, as he needed to get back to his plans. The boy sat down in the chair on the complete opposite side of the table, not meeting his eye and rubbing his hands together nervously.

He had that effect on people, being a vampire and a vampire hunter and the father of the most dangerous creatures on earth.

"Well, I just got back from being a servant at his Venice estate, sir, and I have the most advantageous news you can imagine." Mikael raised his eyebrows, motioning for the boy to continue. He nodded eagerly, clearly pleased to have intrigued the hunter.

"The sir has, ahem, affections for a girl." He said, for the first time meeting Mikael in the eye.

"Really? Has my dearest Niklaus fallen for a lovely young lady?" He asked, his fingers forming a steeple in front of him. How advantageous indeed.

"Young, absolutely. Sir, she's a human." The boy chattered excitedly as Mikael couldn't contain his surprise. The young man across from him tossed a picture down the table. "Her name is Caroline Forbes."

The picture was small but clear. It showed a stunning young girl with curly long blonde hair and a captivating heart shaped face. She wasn't looking at the camera, rather facing something to the left but Mikael could make out clear crystal blue eyes.

"But, sir, I would just like to warn you, Mr. Niklaus is very protective of her." Mikael's eyebrows raised again. "One of the brothers has already fallen for putting her life in danger." The boy jumped slightly in his chair when Mikael stood up to pace the room.

"Well, Caroline Forbes, wait until you meet your lover's maker."

_-j-_

I stood up from his bed, stretching my sore muscles out. I guess getting attacked by a vampire kind of does that to you. Looking out of the windows I could tell it was past midday already. Where did all the time go?

Oh, I knew. Laying with Klaus for hours on end after he had returned from speaking with Kol, and we had talked, but talked about nothing. It was nice. He had suddenly decided that he wanted to know every detail about me, but I didn't like to share details of my past (he might treat me even more like some fragile doll if he knew) so we settled for basic questions. I was starting to get the impression that he was actually kind of, well, sweet.

He told me of his various trips to far off lands that hadn't even snuck their way into my dreams and then promised to take me there. I told him of my life in the city, and how much I loved the concrete jungle. He told me he could show me so many cities my head would spin. I believed him.

And then he had left to go "attend to something" as he had put it and I just lay in his bed, waiting for the inevitable cry fest to start. It didn't, and I think it had something to do with the fact that Klaus' warmth was still pooling in my body, straight to my bones. He seemed to drive out any fear that I had about anything.

"Caroline! Caroline!" I heard my name being called from somewhere near the door by a familiar voice and I smiled. I could definitely use a friend right now. I walked over and opened the door to find Rebekah standing there, laden down with shopping bags, and a concerned look on her face.

"You found out?" She asked carefully and my mind went blank for a moment as I considered what she could be talking about. Oh, yeah, the whole vampire thing.

"You deb! You're one too?!" I exclaimed, and I was sure shock was dominating my features. How could I not have thought about this already? Rebekah grimaced.

"Sorry, sweets, this is totally not how I thought you'd find out." Rebekah said and we both began walking towards her dressing room. I shrugged my shoulders. How many more curve balls could there possibly be?

"Yeah, well, I'm adjusting." I said quietly, and it was true. What else was I supposed to do with this information?

"I can imagine it being quite a shock." She said as we entered the through the door and both sat down in the plush chairs that were scattered about the clothes infested room that I had grown to love.

"Would you mind if I asked you some questions?" Rebekah shrugged nonchalantly.

"No, fire away."

"How close are you guys to myths? Obviously you can walk in the sun."

"I would just take most of them as that, myths. But yeah, if you have some kind of enchanted daylight jewelry you can be in the sun." Rebekah answered easily, motioning to her ring. My eyes widened.

"Like, a necklace?" I asked cautiously, praying that my suspicions were wrong.

"Sure, it could be a necklace." She answered and my mind raced. My task the night everything changed had been to steal one of the necklaces Klaus wore and Tyler had so stressed the importance of it. Could he… No, that was impossible. There was no way he was involved in this kind of underground stuff.

It escaped my mind as Rebekah pulled beautiful clothing after beautiful clothing out of her mountainous pile of bags, informing me that she had gone shopping for my "lost cause". As one could imagine I was eternally grateful for her company.

"I'm glad you're here." I said suddenly, and Rebekah turned around from the armoire she had been standing at to look at me curiously. "I like being able to talk to you." I said shyly.

"You don't think any less of me, knowing what I am?" Rebekah asked, with a tint of insecurity in her satiny voice. I gazed at her, feeling unexpected affection flowing through my veins. Maybe I didn't need to be ridden with sorrow for my missing friends, I had one here.

"No, not really." I answered her and it was impossible to miss the unshed tears that glazed her eyes.

"Thanks." She whispered. I smiled, and silence befell us as we basked in the comfort of knowing that we were in the company of someone who cared.

"How is Klaus?" Rebekah asked when I was standing in front of the mirror, admiring a particularly beautiful gown that she had bought. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Obviously, the whole vampire thing is a bit of a barrier." My eyes wandered to hers in the reflection from the glass. She seemed to be understanding. "I'm all balled up. He's so enticing and utterly all-encompassing and I really don't think about anything else other than him when I'm around him and it's rather overwhelming. Being with him is magnetic and makes me forget myself." I confessed, glancing down to my knotted fingers. Rebekah didn't say anything, but I could tell she understood.

"I want him." I admitted shamelessly and I realized vaguely that it was the complete truth. I wanted him, in all the ways you could have someone. Desperately, too, unlike anything I had ever felt before. Rebekah nodded.

"I just, sometimes I get this really bad feeling when I'm alone, thinking about it all. Like I'm headed straight to hell with a dark angel by my side." My eyes stayed downcast as my voice dropped an octave. My spoken fears hung for a moment in the perfumed air. I could hear Rebekah's concerned sigh from the corner.

"My brother's such a sheik, huh?" She asked and I almost wanted to smile. She stood up and walked over to me, smoothing my hair comfortingly as our eyes met.

"Doll, I promise you, you're going nowhere near hell, not with a face that could rival Aphrodite." She said sweetly and a small smile crossed my lips. "And actually, you're probably the one thing keeping him from going there, too." My eyes widened slightly at her words. I knew that Klaus was one of the most important people in my life, but sometimes I felt a little insignificant in his.

"How do you know?"

"Believe me, I've had my fair share of heartbreak, sweetheart. I can tell the ones worth fighting for, and you've got it." I furrowed my eyebrows as a distant memory tugged at the frayed strings in the recesses of my mind. Heartbreak… There had been a man, his face was floating about in my brain, and he had sad eyes. She had been with him, the night I met Klaus.

"Where is he?" I asked suddenly as I realized he must be the source of all of her sunken sorrow.

"Gone." She answered quietly and my heart thudded for her. I couldn't even imagine Klaus just suddenly being gone.

I was used to people disappearing in my life, it happened when you lived where I did. Friends, bosses, strangers, moms, dads. You picked up a tissue and fixed your makeup and carried on. But somehow picturing Klaus disappearing, like so many others had, made my heart hurt.

"Do you miss him?"

"Everyday." She replied immediately and her hands dropped from my face to my hands and squeezed. I smiled at her.

"Why don't you go to him?"

"Caroline, when you're a vampire you realize that some things are more important than love. Loyalty, family, protection." She answered vaguely and we kept our embrace. I could almost feel her pain and in that moment I felt like I had a sister.

"Do you miss being human?"

"Everyday. There's things that you do as a human that you just can't do when you're a vampire. When you only have so many days to live you trust, you believe, you live for what you truly want and you make mistakes. That, though, is much too painful to relive in the many years that you're undead." I found myself saddened by her words, and I knew that she must have lived a very long and difficult life to have become so hard to the world.

"But don't you miss being a little carefree? Living on the edge?" I asked and her eyes softened and she turned away from me, clearly lost in some memory from her past.

I'd probably never truly understand all that she had been through.

_-j-_

Rebekah's mind was swimming with all of the horrible memories of heartbreaks past that Caroline's words were bringing forth. How many mistakes she had made, how much she wished she could just go back and be lost in love, as the beautiful girl in front of her was.

But she wasn't in love, and her job right now was to help this poor, unfortunate soul.

"I do miss it, of course. I just know better now." She answered and she noticed the compassion in Caroline's eyes. She saw now how perfect this girl was for her brother; she was strong and opinionated but trusting and affectionate. Just enough of each that she was the perfect polar to Klaus and they fit like a jigsaw made in a mad hatter's hair. She was driven to make sure it stayed solved.

"That sounds sad." Caroline answered as she peeled herself out of the dress she had been trying on. Oh, this sweet human girl was Rebekah before all of her lovely tragedies. She wanted Caroline to fair better than she had, to have a chance.

Kol had told her this morning that Mikael was nearing them, and that they had spies that were going to send word of any plans that their father might be brewing up. Rebekah had a sinking feeling of what they were going to be. But, she was planning too, and she had a premonition that she was going to win. She _had _to win.

Rebekah knew then that she would do anything to make sure Caroline got her happy ending.

"Maybe it is."

_-j-_

I lay fitfully in the ironically heavenly comforters of my bed, tugging here and there as I became increasingly more restless. I was drifting in and out of sleep, my head throbbing with indecision. I wanted him, so bad. That much I was absolutely sure of.

What was I supposed to do about that fact that he was a vampire?

My conversation with Rebekah had left me a little wary of trusting this family. They had been alive for a while, I could tell, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know exactly how long. They all seemed to know everything there was to life, and kept just the right amount of it a secret to leave you reeling. As a simple human who had been alive a measly twenty one years, I was lost.

"Caroline. If you want him, you go to him." I demanded aloud to myself, part encouragement and part frustration. It had worked out well, rather well, when I went to his bedroom the last time. I blushed at the memory.

Very carefully, so as not to disturb anyone, I tiptoed out of my room and used the faint traces of moonlight to find my way back to his bedroom. When I pushed open the heavy wooden door he lay sleeping again, this time the blankets pooled at his hips enticingly and his arms stretched out. Definitely not wrapped up like he had been last time, and I took a moment to admire his physique.

I climbed into his bed, trying not to wake him before I wanted him to. Maybe it was impossible, but somehow in the latter half of my day I had missed him. He had been somewhere else and I was unable to find him after my conversation with Rebekah, so I had busied myself with some books that I had found in my room. Obviously not as entertaining or enigmatic as the man before me.

Leaning forward carefully, I pressed a gentle kiss to his full lips. I giggled inwardly at how this was the same way he had woken me up so early this morning. My lips persuaded his into responding and in seconds I felt him stirring beneath me. When I felt his hands reach up to grip my bare upper arms I pulled away from his seductive mouth.

"Caroline." He was rapidly blinking away his sleep and if I was being honest he looked rather adorable all rumpled and tired. I smiled down at him, blushing slightly. He had led our game so far, but it was my turn.

"Hi." I answered him, not really offering him any explanation as to why I had woken him. I inched lower down on his body so that I was sitting on his thighs, still holding eye contact. He eyes narrowed.

"Love, what are you doing?" He asked and there was a certain edge to his voice that I had quickly become acquainted with. It was riddled with a certain hunger that made me throb.

"Shhh." I hushed him as I bowed my head to place a kiss on his collarbone and I heard his exhale of breath above me. I used my lips as a guide as I littered his torso with kisses, sucking lightly here and there. Klaus occasionally made satisfied noises that drove me further. I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but it was having the affect I wanted. I wanted him to feel as lost in passion as I so frequently did.

When I reached where his hips narrowed and the gods above had bestowed a happy trail created directly in heaven Klaus' hands gripped sharply on my hips and I sat up and stared pointedly at him.

"Oh, Klaus, you know what this is." I said mockingly and his eyes widened in excitement. My hands reached for his and placed them at his sides and if I wasn't mistaken a slight pout marred his sinner's mouth. How ironic. "You know the rules, don't you?" He only narrowed his eyes in response.

Oh, I was going to have fun with this.

_-j-_

Klaus was in hell. At least, that was what he was telling himself when Caroline's lips came so close to his now throbbing erection that he nearly lost control of his darker side right then, and lost the game no doubt.

A minx, that was what this unbelievable girl was. A little fiery minx that was going to test every ounce of control he had ever held claim to, and wreck it as well. Her dainty hand that had no business doing such a devilish deed reached up and pulled the covers off of him, revealing the fact that he had chosen to sleep sans clothing.

Teasing lips continued their path down his body, leaving a trail of blood simmering below the skin, as one hand reached up to trace his abdomen and the other suddenly came into contact with his cock and his hips jutted forward unexpectedly as he cursed. He knew she was smiling.

She stroked him slowly, drawing out a guttural sound from his throat that surprised even him. Her hand wrapped around him felt like no other, and her previous touches seemed to have been so little a precursor that nothing could have prepared him for this. There was no feeling that rivaled her with him.

He stood corrected when her lips traveled further down and brushed along his length before wrapping around the head of his cock and he groaned loudly. Pleasure this intense and this consuming belonged in myths and legends, certainly.

Caroline placed a hand on one of his hips and pushed him further into her mouth and his eyes squeezed shut as the sensations grew to be too much. He was still gripping onto his human side, and he desperately wanted to keep it that way. But she was challenging his restraint as she pulled him even further into the wet caverns of his mouth and now his eyes widened disbelievingly as she took in almost all of him, hitting the back of her throat with his cock.

A growl ripped through him when she pulled up sharply, completely letting him go with a pop before pulling him back into the pleasurable torture. How the fuck had his blonde grown to be so, ahem, talented?

She sucked him for all that he was worth, her tongue licking up the side when she came up and her lips wrapping cleverly around him when she went down, seemingly unconcerned in regards to a gag reflex.

"Jesus Christ, Caroline." He groaned, and his hands itched to wrap in her curls but he settled for clutching the sheet beside him. Had he not been sleeping a couple of moments ago?

It continued for seconds longer before he could feel himself reaching the edge and his hands actually did reach up to dig themselves in her blonde tresses, she made no move to stop him, and he moaned. His hips bucked forward further into her mouth as she continued her wicked ministrations. Virgin be damned, she was an absolute sinner.

It was the moment when she daringly bared her teeth around his cock that sent him plunging over the edge with a guttural roar, his hips pushing forward. Her lips remained wrapped around him as she swallowed his sticky fluids, only pulling off of him moments later with a satisfied grin and flushed cheeks.

He gripped her shoulders and hauled her upwards, kissing her forcefully. He could taste himself on her, and he didn't think that there could be anything more satisfying knowing that he had possessed her in such a way and vice versa. Intoxicating. He pulled away and their eyes met for a heated moment.

"Caroline. Forbes. Do you not have a gag reflex?" He broke the silence with a grated voice full of unadulterated passion. Her lips curved triumphantly and she shrugged.

"Holy shit." He whispered and pulled her back in for another searing kiss. He was still saturated in need, but she wasn't there. For Christ's sake she had just found out this morning that he was a god damn vampire. He would absolutely lose it if he took her right now.

"You know, you lost the game." She echoed tauntingly as she pulled away and he smirked. He hummed in response, and pulled her into his side.

"You're wild, love." He said adoringly and she purred into his side. They lay in silence for a while as both of their breathing evened out and he traced delicate patters on her back with the pads of his fingertips. Something was nagging on his mind though, and his voice broke the silence eventually.

"Caroline. When I first brought you here I had witches heal you." He said quietly and she lifted her head to gaze at him, resting her chin on his chest.

"Witches?" She asked incredulously and he nodded.

"They have certain talents that allow them to get distinct feelings or flashes of memories when they probe someone's mind." He said slowly and she nodded, still gazing up at him. He would never get over how perfect her eyes were. "They mentioned to me that you had a troubled past." It was when he said this that she broke eye contact and he felt her body freeze up under her touch.

"Will you share it with me?" He asked carefully. He didn't want to cause her any pain, but Klaus wanted to be familiar with every detail of her life. And also kill anyone still alive that had ever caused her even mild discomfort.

"I don't like to think about it." She said quietly after a long moment, but her voice wasn't closed off. She met his searching gaze again and sadness emanated from her eyes. He pushed her closer into him and nodded, encouraging her to continue.

"I guess it mostly deals with my mom. My dad abandoned us when I was born and she started an addiction to drugs. Deep end, you know. I can't really remember all that much." Caroline paused, burrowing into his side slightly as whatever she was thinking about scared her.

"It's okay, love." He murmured, thinking that she didn't want to continue. His heart was pounding already, anyway.

"She died when I was four. It was a drug overdose and she was behind on paying a lot of her dealers so they came to the house and I don't remember anything after that until I ended up at an orphanage." His grip tightened on her hips at her words, anger surging forward. He was going to ruin anyone that he found that had caused her pain, absolutely _destroy_ them.

"I stayed at the orphanage for a while and that's where I met Elena, my best friend. We split up when she was adopted, but I never was. I ran away when I was sixteen and never looked back." She said quietly, clearly lost in memories. He held onto her comfortingly.

"You'll never feel pain like that ever again." He vowed and she glanced up at him with a look that spoke stories.

"You shouldn't promise things you can't keep." She said in a small voice and his eyes blazed, pressing a kiss to her lips before speaking.

"Believe me love, I don't."

**Author's Note:**

**Be prepared for a long one.**

**I know that it's been kind of a while since I've updated but it's been a hectic week and I don't want to give half-assed chapters. So here it is, and it's kind of longer. xxx**

**Reminder: I didn't have Klaus compel Rebekah to forget the city night in the beginning, just because it's brought up here again. Same thing with Caroline, she's just having temporary amnesia, of course. **

**Also, we see here the full extent of Caroline and Rebekah's relationship, and I love it. It's kind of big and little sister, ah so precious. **

**WOAH. Mikael POV, how did you guys find it? Hopefully not too over-dramatic, haha. Big bad villain, coming through. **

**Anyone catch the Little Mermaid reference? **

**Wrapped up on any mysteries of Caroline's past for you guys, since I know some were curious. It's not necessarily one of her weaknesses, but definitely a soft moment between Klaus and her. **

**You guys also get to see Caroline being a little more dominant here, as much as one can be with Klaus, and I looooved writing it. Obviously, Caroline is one of Klaus' weaknesses. **

**Super exciting: I have officially finished the plans for this story so everything is all wrapped up with a bow right now for me, though not for you. :x. So much action coming up, stay tuned. **

**I also put up the one-shot that I had talked about, so please go check it out and review!**

**If anyone actually read all of this I applaud you. Comment to let me know you did. Say cheese or something haha. **

**REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW. They inspire me so much and often make my day. Hardcore cheesy smiles all around. **

**Best,**

**J.**


	8. Chapter VIII

Darkness closed in on him, surrounding him, encompassing his limbs. He was trapped, held down as he looked up in the forest he knew well. Trees that pierced against the sky and a night so black he found himself losing what was real. He lay on cold, hard, unyielding ground, barren of any life. He looked up and saw a figure headed towards him.

Everything in the scenery was dark and he couldn't see anything but the light emanating from her figure. She was everything she was in real life, and he wanted to reach a hand out to her but he found he couldn't. While he felt his restraints, her light called to him, beckoned him. Finally she neared him, and it was now that he noticed her dress was covered in crimson blood and tears stained her angelic face.

"You're too late." She sing-songed tauntingly, staring at him with a cold gaze. He struggled against his tight restrictions, wanting to go to her. Was she hurt?

"What do you mean I'm too late?" He asked, still trying to resist the pull of darkness on his body. She came closer to him, the light from her form almost blinding now, and she stood only inches from him. But he couldn't move.

"I'm already gone." She whispered, her breath cool against his heated face. He felt himself being pulled away, unable to stay by her side.

"Wait- wait! What happened?" He yelled as whatever had captured him succeeded in yanking him backwards, and he kicked and screamed against his demon. She smiled.

"You'll never be able to fix it." Her voice was still a heavenly whisper, but her words ripped through him. He knew it, he knew it. Whatever happened, it was his fault no doubt.

"Please, I know I can help. Let me help."

"How could you have failed me? Why didn't you save me?" Tears were falling freely down her face now and his heart thudded in fear. Something terrible had happened. His body was torn away from her, further and further into the blackness and away from her light.

"Caroline, I'm sorry." He called as he neared the edge of the forest, her figure now just a speck. She was still speaking though, and suddenly she screamed, calling out for him to help her. He couldn't _do _anything as he tried with all of his might but his captor held him with brutal force. He watched in horror as her body was dragged away, and her screams pierced his ears.

"CAROLINE."

_-j-_

My eyelids were forced open as I felt a sudden movement beside me. My vision came into focus as I took in the stillness of Klaus' bedroom, the moon light casting a pale glow around it. My body was incredibly comfortable where I was laying, and I idly pondered what could have awoken me.

Klaus groaned suddenly behind me and I whipped my head to face him, as it sounded like he was in pain. I scrunched my eyebrows up as I realized he was still asleep. Was he having a nightmare?

His body moved suddenly, his arms reaching out for something that I couldn't see as he yelped quietly. I reached out to him, gripping onto his biceps, shaking him to try to get him awake. He stayed plunged in darkness though, his eyes screwed shut in pain.

He was practically thrashing now and I quickly sat on top of his waist, calling out his name in my best effort to pull him from whatever was plaguing his dreams. He remained locked away in his nightmare.

"Wake up! Klaus please wake up!" I called franticly, shaking him again. Whatever was in his head had a tight hold though, and he stayed in the prison of his mind.

"Caroline, Caroline…" He murmured and his voice was utterly tortured. A tear slipped down my cheek as seeing him in pain made my heart hurt.

"Klaus! Klaus! Please wake up!" I yelled and suddenly his eyes snapped open. They were black and wandered the bedroom fleetingly, lost, as he came out of the darkness. When they finally landed on me his eyes eclipsed back into blue and he pulled me quickly into him.

"You, you were gone." He whispered, fear lacing his voice. His body was still shaking and I wrapped my arms comfortingly around him.

"It's okay, it's okay. It was just a dream." I said in a soothing voice and he shuddered.

"I lost you." He spoke quietly, his arms now in an iron vice around me, locking me into his embrace. My hands ran through his curls, trying to assure him.

"No, you didn't. You'll never loose me, I promise."

_-j-_

When I awoke again to sunlight streaming through the large bay windows, he was gone. The only thing that told me he had even actually been there was a lack of warmth, my soreness and the lingering smell of him. Masculine, slightly woodsy, and entirely virile. I was suddenly transported to the night I met him, where I smelled him on his jacket when he had placed it on my shoulders. I shivered.

I slipped out of the covers and wondered over to his dresser. A note lay there, written in a slanted and haphazard hand. I picked up the delicate piece of paper. There was a small jewelry box attached to it.

- _Thank you._ -

The note simply said, and a small smile crossed my lips. I opened up the velvet encased box and gasped. Inside lay an utterly stunning bracelet, a dainty little thing encrusted with small diamonds and gems, and in the middle there was a small charm that had an etching of a sun on it.

My smile was no longer contained as I slipped the bracelet on and admired how it fit perfectly. It was without a doubt the most expensive thing I had ever worn.

Would he ever cease to captivate me?

_-j-_

A knock sounded at his door and he glanced up to see Kol sauntering in. His head was still pounding from his nightmare when Kol sat down in the chair opposite him.

They sat together, staring out the windows and to the violent sea rocking against the cliffs. The ocean was an angry dark blue, the waves choppy and unpredictable, a telltale sign of an impending storm. It was a moment before his brother broke the comfortable silence.

"Another report came in." Kol said casually and Klaus turned to face him. "Mikael arrived in Milan a fortnight ago. He has a smallish group and is reportedly staying in one of their houses a couple miles south of the city." Kol said quietly and Klaus nodded with the new information. This was to be expected, Mikael closing in on them. It didn't stop his heart from pounding at the thought of Mikael nearing Caroline, though.

"Keep our defenses on the same level. I want someone watching Caroline at all times unless I am with her." Kol glanced over at him as he said this and they stayed like that for a moment.

"You care for her, don't you?" Kol asked not unkindly and Klaus deliberated for a moment. Undoubtedly, yes, he cared for her. It was monumental, actually thinking about the extent of his feelings for this human girl. He was willing to do pretty much anything for her.

"Yes." He answered after a second's silence. Kol's eyebrows raised.

"You know it would be easier if you made her a vampire?" His brother asked and he sighed. It was the obvious answer, really. Then he would be able to abandon the Italy palace and whisk her away, but right now her fragile constraints stopped him. And his reservations for her.

"She doesn't want that." Caroline had never directly told him she didn't want to be a vampire, but he was aware the idea frightened her. "I don't want to force her to change for me." His voice dropped an octave. She was perfect already.

"We should leave here." Kol said suddenly and he looked up into the face that he had become so familiar with. It was the notion that had been plaguing him, whether or not to stay. It would be better for them as a whole if they left, but better and easier for Caroline if they stayed. He was torn.

"Caroline wouldn't be able to make the trip." He answered darkly. He wasn't going to do anything that risked her life. Not when his so depended on hers. Transportation would be on their feet, and it would be impossible for her to able to take the harsh conditions and treacherous landscapes.

"And I suppose leaving her behind is entirely out of the question?" Kol said almost mischievously, and he narrowed his eyes at him.

"Absolutely not. She stays with me." He responded immediately, giving his brother a dark look. Kol raised his hands in a surrendering gesture and he looked away.

"Do you think Mikael knows about her?" Kol asked and Klaus practically growled at the thought of his father knowing Caroline.

"Perhaps." His answered and hands were shaking slightly. His father had hunted them for so many years it had become routine, but it had only to do with his family. Involving Caroline, while he knew it was wrong, it put so much more at stake.

"I haven't ever seen you like this." Kol said, motioning to him. Klaus eyed his brother.

"Like what?"

"Concerned, for someone else's life." Kol answered and Klaus could tell that it had been obvious to his brother for a long time about how he felt. Maybe it had to him too.

"She has to live, Kol." He said, and he had tried his best to keep his fear from infiltrating his voice but he worried it shined through easily.

"She will, I know it."

_-j-_

I sighed as I flopped down onto the velvety chair in the corner of my massive room, propping my legs up on the ottoman in front of me. My eyes were on the bracelet hanging beautifully from my wrist.

_What did it mean?_

I had never felt like this. I was doubting my sanity as he consumed every one of my waking thoughts. I had grown less and less concerned with the fact that I was so far from home, and had learned that this was where I wanted to be, anywhere near him, really.

I had heard so many times that you know the person you're meant to be with the moment you meet them. You're supposed to see fireworks and your heart thumps out of your chest comically. Maybe I had, maybe I hadn't. All I knew was that the second I met Klaus, my whole life changed. And now, every time I saw him the fireworks grew brighter and more intense and my heart practically stops.

I had always likened intense feeling with someone synonymously with intense pain, a sense of abandonment, impending doom. I didn't know if I felt that for Klaus, all I knew for sure was that I had no wishes to be anywhere but his side, impending doom be damned.

My thoughts were interrupted by a solid knock at my door.

"Come in." I answered, thinking Rebekah had returned to talk some more about my time spent in the city. She was interested in my life there. Instead there before me stood the man I had been thinking about, a dark look in his eyes.

"Hi." I said shyly and a wolfish smile crossed his lips for a moment. He stalked over to me, his eyes connected with mine the whole time, and when he reached me I was practically breathless. He was so handsome, so unfair.

"Hello, love." His voice grated as he leaned down, his hands gripping the armrests on either side of me. He was hovering slightly above my body and I couldn't help but blush as his eyes raked over my form. I was wearing some silky berry red dress that Rebekah had given me, and it wasn't exactly modest.

Electricity crackled in the air as we both held our stances. Our proximity always had that effect. I was at mercy to his gaze and the molten depths of his fiery eyes drew me in until our faces were inches apart.

"Caroline…" Klaus trailed, and I could tell there was something he wanted to tell me. Instead of finishing his thought he pulled me in for a searing kiss that had me melting.

His tongue played with mine, tracing the inside of my mouth and creating a fire somewhere deep inside of me, pulling at me. Somehow I knew what he was trying to tell me before, with that one kiss.

I poured everything that I was feeling into it; my frustration, confusion, and overwhelming desire. His hands gripped my hips and lifted me up to my feet. He pulled away after another moment, gazing at me in earnest. I wanted to melt into a puddle. His hands fingered the thin straps to my dress and he looked at me for approval. I whimpered my yes.

Seconds later my dress fell to the floor and I stood before him in only my undergarments. I didn't feel embarrassed somehow. He made feel so wanton, like nothing could ever be more right than being with him.

"You're going to be the death of me." He spoke ardently and reached around me to unclasp my bra. I sighed as the cool air suddenly caressed my tender nipples, it contrasted in a heavenly way with how heated I was feeling. Klaus then lifted me up again, gently, and brought me to the bed.

We were wrapped up in one another as he settled in between my legs, and I tugged at the hem of his crisp shirt. I wanted him to be as bare to me as I was to him. He pulled it off of him and tossed it to the side, and then his lips were sucking along my skin as I reveled in our closeness.

I wanted more though, and my hands travelled down his torso to undo the buckle of his belt, and then slowly, as my fingers were shaking, the button to his pants. I could only push them down as far as my hands would reach and he kicked them off the rest of the way.

Suddenly I felt desire shoot recklessly through me as I took in his naked form. Someone must have created him in the vision of gods, for he had no flaws in my eyes. Definitely the devil's work, for I felt myself being pulled further into darkness as he carefully slipped my panties off.

I was aching for him, and I'm sure he could tell as a dark look overcame his eyes. He stared at me, seeming to put every part of me to memory as he took in my body. Our eyes connected again.

"You were made for me." He whispered in a heady tone that had my blood simmering, his thoughts mirroring my own. His words were so possessive, and I loved it. I felt incredibly wanted. I pulled on his shoulders so that he was closer to me and our lips met in another mind-blowing kiss.

"Klaus…" I groaned as I pulled away from his lips and my hips moved of their own volition against his. His hands reached up to worship my breasts and I was a slave for his touch. My body responded to him faster than I thought possible. Only seconds passed by before he had me gasping, my legs locked around his waist to pull him closer, even closer.

"I want you." I confessed and he looked back into my eyes with doubly intensified blue flames that melted me to my baser needs. How could he even be _real_?

"Caroline… I might hurt you." He said, practically groaning as our parts that needed the most relief rubbed against each other in a way that I was quickly becoming an addict for. I bit my lip in consideration of his words. I not only wanted him, I needed him.

Yeah, his vampire side frightened me still. But looking at him now, there was nothing more that I wanted than to be with him, in every way possible, in that moment.

"No you won't." I said quietly and he closed his eyes as even I heard the unconditional adoration in my voice. It wasn't even surprising.

"Love, being with you is… all encompassing. I'll lose myself when I'm inside you." He said in a dark tone that spoke of how much this killed him. The last barrier. I dug my fingers into his curls and brought his face that had been resting on my chest to face me. He wrapped his hands around my hips, tightly, and pulled me close to him.

"Klaus, I trust you." I said, and it was a whisper but I spoke it with confidence. It was almost instantaneous how he suddenly became a man of passion, his lips fierce on mine and his hips relentlessly rubbing, creating an intoxicating friction.

I was coiled tightly with anticipation as he centered me, positioning himself at my entrance. I whimpered when he just barely pushed the tip into me, and he groaned. It was a sound that could bring anyone to their knees.

He slowly pushed, inch by inch, deep inside of me so that I felt all of him, all at once. When I felt him rip through my virginity a scream left my mouth as I was consumed in a fiery pleasure mixed with pain. He gripped even tighter onto my hips, and when his fingertips moved there were small bruises there.

A sharp growl left his left his mouth when he was completely sheathed in me, full to the hilt as my core desperately tried to keep up. The vibration sent welcome shock waves through my body, and my back arched.

Klaus stayed still inside of me, allowing my body time to accommodate to his size, and it was such a decadent pressure, having him throbbing against my walls. He then swiveled his hips once and I cried out, the feeling so foreign and pleasurable that my eyes squeezed shut and I wrapped my legs tighter around his waist in frantic need for him.

"Are you okay?" His voice was grated and harsh and I could barely manage a nod to his question as I was still overwhelmed with heady sensations. "You're so goddamn tight, love." He whispered as he hips slowly picked up a rhythm, tentative but seductive and licentious all the same. My hands gripped onto his shoulders as I gasped when he hit a certain spot inside of me, my walls clenching deliciously. He hit the spot over and over again, relentless and erotic.

I was nearing that edge of the world that made me feel limitless, powerful. I moved my hips then, in time with his, so that when he plunged back into me we both moaned. He suddenly became much faster in his movements, unrestrained, slightly harsh but he carried me along all the same.

He pulled completely out of me and I whimpered when he thrust back in, every nerve ending in my body alive. I knew it was hard for him to stay in control, as his hands now violently grasped the sheets beside my waist and he no longer met my eyes.

My hands caressed the sides of his face as he placed kisses to my breasts, and I tugged on his curls then so that he would look at me. I was immediately met with his black gaze, dark veins tattooing underneath his skin and razor sharp fangs sticking out menacingly. A gasp left my mouth.

Somehow, I forgot to be scared.

_-j-_

He was losing it. Definitely too much for him to be able to control his darker half from taking over. His eyes rolled back at the exquisite feeling of her heat clenching around him, so fucking tight. He could barely hear her moans over the pleasure that rolled through him, his blood pumping too fast, his heart hammering. Everything about it was sinful pleasure soaked in him trying to desperately restrain himself, fully aware she had offered something to him that she hadn't given to any other man.

Her entire body was on fire as blood pumped viciously through her, and he held on gravely to his self-control. He knew that it probably hurt her as her walls clenched around him, not used to the sensations. His hands gripped into her backside, his fingers digging into her flesh as he lifted her up slightly so that his cock slammed deeper into the next thrust. It was monumental to him that he owned her in every way with this one gesture, the only one to ever bring her to this.

When she touched his face and took in the full effect of his vampire side, he knew they were both nearing the brink. He nearly hid his face from her so as not to scare her, but her previous words resonated through him. _I trust you. _He couldn't believe that she had said that. He had wanted something like that so desperately for such a long time, and she had been free of compulsion and of her own will when she told him.

He wanted to stay inside of her forever.

"Klaus." She murmured as she continued to hold him and it stuck something deep inside of him. He was waiting for the fear to wash over her features, but it never did. Caroline moved upwards and gave him a soft kiss that was so sweet and spoke of something he hadn't had in such a long time it nearly pushed him over.

He needed her to fall apart beneath him, to be writhing from his touch, to call his name without abandon. Klaus needed to ruin her for any other man, not that he'd let anyone else touch her after this.

He picked up his pace slightly, moving his hips in a way that allowed for him to rub against her clit and swirl inside of her all at once. He reached a hand up to cup one of her breasts, twirling the taut peak, and allowed their mouths to mingle hotly. He felt the tightening of her body, the increased pace of her breathing, sharp pulse, and knew she only needed a little encouragement to fall off the edge.

All it took was her name.

"Caroline." He groaned, and then she was catapulting into darkness as her walls clenched and her whole body writhed against his. His name crossed her lips, and the sound echoed through him endlessly. She was perfection, and rivaled every other sight he had come across.

The sight of her coming undone from him being inside her, her perfect mouth open, eyes shut, skin flushed, hands gripping tightly, was enough that with a couple of harsh thrusts he came inside of her with a guttural roar. He rode out both of their orgasms, and her walls still spasmed around him occasionally.

"You're mine." He whispered, still inside of her, and she slowly opened her eyes to look at him, and they were still wild and lost.

"Yes, yours." She whimpered and he groaned in contentment, still moving slightly inside of her. She was captivating.

Finally she seemed to come back down from the clouds, and he pulled out of her slowly and gently. She still winced though, and he grimaced at her slight pain. He flipped over onto his back and he pulled her on top of him so that she was sitting on his lap.

He sat up, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her impossibly close to him. Her breathing was still erratic as he nuzzled into her neck. He wanted this, he wanted her, forever. They sat like that for what seemed like ages, and eventually he pulled away to gaze into her eyes.

He wasn't sure if it was the look in her eyes or the post-coital atmosphere, but his undead heart thumped with the sudden realization of how he truly felt.

"Caroline." He said and she looked at him, blue meeting blue, and he knew that there would never be a moment more perfect. His next words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them, but that didn't make them any less true.

"I love you." He heard her intake of breath and how her hands that were resting at the back of his neck seemed to tighten their hold. He hadn't ever told that to anyone before.

"I love you too." She answered quietly and he closed his eyes, pulling them both backwards onto the bed. Nothing else needed to be said. He had finally found her. He wrapped his arms protectively around her loose body, pulling her back to him so that his whole body could curve against hers.

He waited until he felt her heart slow down to an even and comforting patter as she fell asleep, and then he willed himself to close his eyes, slipping into the best sleep he had ever gotten.

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry if this note is extreme rubbish, I'm incredibly tired but wanted to get this up for you guys.**

**Definitely some big moments in this chapter that I've been greatly anticipating to write. Forewarning: Klaus' nightmare is a big factor in foreshadowing for upcoming chapters. Obviously, we're fast approaching our climax. Also, props to anyone who realized that it slightly reflected Caroline's earlier dream -like thing.**

**So Klaus and Caroline have finally and actually done _it. _Please let me know what you thought of it! Did it live up to you guys' expectations? I actually tried super hard to perfect it, and had to rewrite it several times. **

**BIG LOVE CONFESSION. Tender moments, d'aww. So reluctant but so heartfelt. **

**Also, Mikael is closing in on our favorite lovers who are quite distracted right now. Trouble! xx**

**As always, reviews mean so much to me so please let me know what you thought! What were your favorite moments? What do you want to see more of? I directly take you guys' comments into consideration for the story!**

**Best, **

**J.**


	9. Chapter IX

A frown marred his face as he looked down upon his shoes and took in how scuffed and dirty they had become. When had he done that? Deciding to be unbothered by this he walked on. He passed by a small and dingy shop on the nearly empty street, catching his reflection in the glass of the window. It scared even him. Pale skin, haunted eyes, dark under eye circles, features that screamed at you.

He wasn't sleeping much anymore.

Trying his best to ignore this, he pushed open the whining door and entered the tiny little shop. He was faced with the usual fixings of one of these convenience stores, though these were not what he was here for. A sharp nod was given to him by the young blonde lazily leaning at the counter, and then he silently made his way to the back where a door was slightly propped open.

He entered the even smaller room, and an unreliable, circular table awaited him. The chair scraped against the linoleum floor as he pulled it back and sat down, stretching out his legs in the darkness underneath.

"Damn, you look like a ghost these days." The man across from him said and he glanced up, giving him a dark look. There was only a single light in the room, hanging directly over the dingy table and it cast violent shadows against their faces. How utterly fitting.

"Not sleeping well." He answered shortly and they fell to silence. He wasn't drinking well, either, if he was being honest. Which was probably bothering him the most.

Just as he would tip on the edge of sleep, ready to fall into comforting darkness that so awaited him, _she_ would be there. Blue eyes flashing and curved lips daring. He knew he had once known her, but he didn't now. Each time he thought he would defeat said mirage, it would turn out that she bested him and he was left alone, awake, and fitfully cold.

Even if he did manage to close his eyes and drop unceremoniously into slumber she would be there, calling to him in a way so familiar that it hurt when he tried to place it with a far off, distant memory. As one could imagine, he would wake from these dreams even more tired than before.

She even managed to put him off his blood.

"Hey, Matt, there you are." He looked up at the newcomer who had just walked in, the boy from the counter, who was drying his hands on the apron looped casually around his hips. The kid was young and looked to be a good person, not that this was of any consequence to him. How he got stuck with this motley crew was beyond his imagination, and his curiosity.

"Tyler, buddy. Swell to see you guys." Matt said in a friendly voice as he sat down in the only empty chair left, next to Tyler. He could feel their expectant stares on him.

"Stefan, man, you do not look it." And here was the human invalid commenting on his appearance. On another day, he would have Matt's throat in pieces for that particular remark but he couldn't even bring himself to lift a finger. He shouldn't have come.

But for someone reason the mission had intrigued him when his old werewolf friend (ironic, he's aware) Tyler called him up and told him they could use an extra hand on an Italy trip. Something about bad blood within a tight knit group and one side needed some numbers, and was willing to pay big for it. He used to do business with the Tyler, and he always stuck to business. Naturally he had agreed, wanted to get out of this god forsaken city. He hadn't known about the kid though, who seemed to have some personal vested interest in it.

"Dry up, Matt. He looks fine." Tyler said as Stefan still refrained from answering, as he was aware of Stefan's finicky temper. Finicky was an understatement, and it was what made him so good at the job.

"To my understanding you have some information about the caper?" Stefan asked, irritated, rubbing his fingers together. He needed to go drain someone.

"Yeah, absolutely. So the boss said we leave from here to wherever the bimbo lives, and then he'll give us the instructions there." Tyler said, leaning back in his chair and taking a tough pull on the cigg Stefan hadn't noticed he had. Matt huffed from his spot in response.

"I ain't bumping anybody off." Matt established and Stefan raised his brows. What a kid. "I'm only here for Elena." Ah, human inhibitions. He almost missed them, almost.

"Elena?" Stefan questioned and he gave an annoyed look to Tyler, whose foot was tapping incessantly. Stuff like this got werewolves all kinds of balled up. He was interested in this particular screw in the plan though, a weak little human trying to help his girl. How sweet.

"Yeah, she's a good friend of mine, well, ours. I need the money for her." Matt answered him and he shrugged, not meeting Stefan's eye.

"You handcuffed?" Stefan asked and a laugh burst from Tyler, which Stefan shot down quickly with a harsh look.

"Nah, we're only friends. Known her since we were kids, not keen on cashing that." Matt said nonchalantly and Stefan dropped the subject.

"Listen, boys, I gotta run. Need to be at the joint for an… appointment." Stefan said briskly as he stood up, brushing imaginary dirt off of his pants. They both nodded their assent.

"Meet here tonight at 12." Tyler said as he was moving out the door, and he raised his hand in solitary acknowledgement. In seconds the cool city air rushed into his face and he took a welcome breath. With this he caught the scent of a warm human somewhere close by. About time.

With only a couple of steps left he found a youngish girl that was crying, crouched on the ground in a back alley and oblivious to his presence. Perfect.

And just as he leaned down to shake her by the shoulder and then sink his teeth into that same spot, she appeared before him, or rather, above him.

"Stefan, baby." She crooned in a lilting voice that made him want to fall to his knees. He shifted slightly, and the girl finally noticed him standing there. Scared, she stood up and ran off. Not that Stefan cared at this point, as his gaze was locked on the apparition before him.

Her edges were blurry, but his vision of her features was so clear. He wasn't able to describe any of her, or recall what she looked like later, but he was aware she was the most beautiful being he had ever seen. She took his breath away. He _knew _her. He was absolutely sure of it.

But then, he didn't.

"Who are you?" He asked and to onlookers his was some lunny talking to the wall. Not that uncommon. It would have been perfectly apt to ask 'What are you', given the circumstances, but he was becoming pretty sure she was an angel. She held his gaze for a moment, seeming to pity him in her look.

She never answered him, and in seconds she disappeared, leaving only the scent of rosy musk.

Surely this was whatever was above shaking their fist at him for his existence.

Damn the world.

_-j-_

Her hands grew sharp blisters that complained of their labor as she sharply pushed on the worn scrub brush, her tears combining with the soapy lemon mixture pooling on the floor. There just seemed to be a spot on the floor that she couldn't banish, so she ignored her hands' cries and scrubbed viciously on.

Caroline would have been able to make it go away.

She had been able to make everything go away. Pain, bad memories, crappy people.

She had been at it all day, finding that one thing that was wrong with the apartment and focusing all of her attention on the singular spot until she gave up and moved on to another thing. Any activity, really, to stop thinking about her missing friend.

What was she supposed to do? Law enforcement was obviously out of the question, and in her condition she wouldn't be of much help either. No one knew what to do. Hence the cleaning binge.

Elena eventually tossed the brush to the side, allowing her unwelcome sobs to overtake her. She had no idea what had happened to her very best friend. One day everything was swell; they had laughed the morning before, only a couple of hours before she disappeared.

They had shared diapers together, broken dolls, snotty tissues, bunk beds. And they had just gotten to the very best part, the carefree part, where they laughed and drank and partied and made bad decisions. Why did have to be now?

She looked up at the single piece of faded blue paper that haunted her endlessly. It was stuck to their ice box with a dingy piece of tap and her best friend's flawless handwriting gracing it.

_-Elena,_

_I'm going out on the job tonight._

_Don't wait up._

_-Kisses,_

_Caroline._

She couldn't bring herself to tear it down, to admit to herself that Caroline had disappeared like so many other people did. It wasn't fair, not at all. Not one bit.

The water still pooled on the floor revealed her unwarranted and unwanted reflection to herself. Pale skin, haunted eyes, dark under eye circles, features that cried to you.

She wasn't healthy anymore.

Something was wrong, terribly wrong, and not just with Caroline. She felt it in her bones, something that was eating her alive. It was going to be the death of her if she didn't get help soon.

But how was she supposed to think about that when her absolute best friend in the whole wide damned world was _gone_?

Matt, sweet sweet Matt, said he could help. Said he would help. They were going somewhere, soon, together, a better place, with doctors that could fix her. (Although no one, not even Matt, mentioned how they couldn't fix the whole in heart where Caroline had resided).

Her weary hands picked up the brush again, realizing suddenly that there was a grease stain on the kitchen table. And so it began again.

What a damned world.

_-j-_

"Caroline. Caroline. Get the hell up." I heard whispered in my ear so softly and I shifted my head to come into direct contact with Rebekah's sharp eyes. My own widened as sleep slowly left me and I glanced over to the still slumbering Klaus, his chest rising and falling soothingly, and then looked back at her in surprised confusion.

"We need to do something. Come with me." I nodded as Rebekah ushered me off of the bed, carefully and desperately avoiding waking Klaus up, and she handed me a thinly padded coat to ward off the cool night air. I stumbled clumsily as tiredness still filled my limbs and we left the room, though I was still unaware as to what was going on.

Soon enough, the people in the house sleeping and unaware, we were slipping into the night, and the only light offered to us was the moon. Though it was often overshadowed by the menacing and stormy clouds that threatened us. We walked quickly and quietly through the grounds of his estate, and I relished in the feel of sneaking away in the night, unbidden. It struck well with me.

She led me to a car sat casually by several others, all imposing and expensive, and she hopped into the driver's seat and I followed along in the passenger's side. After a moment it thrummed alive and then we were headed off down the winding driveway, slowly at first but then gaining speed. Once we were at a safe distance and I saw her shoulders relax I turned to her, eyeing her messy curls and unwashed face.

"Where are we going?" I asked dully, sleep still pulling at my eyes. Her own were steadfast on the road, easily leading us through the thickly covered woods.

"To town." My confusion rose at her words. She sounded so distant, somewhere else.

"At this time?" I asked and a small bubble of laughter, almost hysterical, sounded out of her throat.

"He would never let you leave. Hence why he's still asleep." She didn't have to say Klaus' name for me to know she was talking about him. Just thinking about him caused a delicious chill to run up my spine. The memories of last night (or was it tonight?) still burned at the back of my eyelids.

Silence fell around us and I opted to look out the window. I watched as the scenery steadily changed from our isolated forest to less dense greenery and then scattered houses began to appear as we reached the edge of almost modern civilization.

It was a small town that we arrived in, really nothing in comparison to my city, but it was cozy and well-kept shops lined the main square. It held that foreign feel that I had yet to be properly acquainted with and I realized belatedly that this was the first Italian town I had been in.

We drove through what I presumed to be the main hub-bub of town, now silent as sleep still blanketed everyone, and headed straight through, towards a house that I could see in the distance. Somehow I knew this was our destination. Small candles glowed through the even smaller windows, and strange colors were reflected in them.

Rebekah pulled the car up to the small cottage, and it was then I noticed that she was whispering to herself.

"I can do this. I have to do this." I glanced over to her in fear, debilitating anticipation crawling into my brain. Something was terribly off. I wanted to be back in his arms, not here in the now early morning dusk of this strange town, with my friend who seemed to be completely off her rocker.

Funny how I had been finally offered some freedom and all I wanted to do was crawl back to him. Caroline from the city was turning over in her grave. Men like him did that to you.

"Rebekah, what are we doing?" I asked as we both got out of the car, and I cautiously followed her lead.

"Just, be quiet. Do as I say." I nodded dumbly as her words were spoken with such conviction that they momentarily silenced my pestering questions. She knocked thrice at the wooden door and then suddenly it opened to reveal a small, frail, old woman. Though she was elderly her eyes burned bright and alive.

We were ushered into the warmth of the small home, and then I was suddenly subjected to the woman's harsh glare as she appraised me.

"This is her?" She asked suddenly, glancing over to the still out of it Rebekah, who nodded vaguely. I stood as still as stone as the woman walked closer to me. I felt as though I had been accepted for a role in a play and the other star was having a first good look at me.

"Oh, but of course. She is an angel." I furrowed my eyebrows. Surely she wasn't talking of me anymore. Her eyes still burned through my form as I felt she looked right through my outer skin, straight to my usually hidden inner being.

"Absolutely she is his. I can smell him still on her." I blushed furiously at her words, and looked to Rebekah for guidance. She avoided my gaze. Was it he that poignant to everybody?

"Well, shall we get on with it?" The woman then said, turning away from me and to a strange assortments of bottles full of oddly colored liquids and jars brimming with fragrant mixtures. I watched as she filled two glasses with different combinations in a haphazard, random way.

"Sit down, both of you." She motioned to two chairs placed adjacent to one another and Rebekah and I followed her directions robotically. Our shoulders were touching and Rebekah still wasn't looking at me.

"What's going on?" I whispered, though no one answered me. I watched warily as the woman strode forward, and suddenly plucked a single hair from my head. I was too astonished to find it painful. She did the same to Rebekah, who still looked as though she were in another world.

The woman's back was to me and I couldn't see what she was doing as she muttered quietly to herself, and my nerves grew more frayed as each second passed by. I heard strange chanting suddenly erupt from her and my eyes widened. I must have been dreaming.

Rebekah turned to me then, and clasped my hands. They were warm and strong.

"You are going to be okay." She said and my eyebrows furrowed. This was definitely one of the strangest mornings I had ever experienced, if it was even real.

"Please tell me what's going on." I said desperately, looking over to the small woman, who was now silent and standing stock still before her odd concoctions.

"Remember what we talked about, before? About being carefree, loving?" She asked in an enchanting and suddenly frantic voice. I nodded quickly, our eyes now locked.

"No matter what happens, Caroline, always remember that. Don't lose the part of you that makes you human. Stay sweet, and compassionate, and trusting. Don't let the world make you hard, stay soft. For me, please. He needs that, and he needs you." Rebekah said in a now sad tone, but her eyes were blazing with a fierce love that blew me away.

"Bekah, what's going to happen, why are you doing this?" I asked worriedly, glancing towards the strange woman now standing near us. I hadn't even noticed her move. Rebekah's hands were now shaking in mine.

"He can't stop this, but I can." She said distantly and was no longer paying attention to me as the woman walked closer to us, hands gripping two large cups filled with a bluish liquid and outstretched to our own empty hands.

"Stop what?" I asked a tone that I'm sure betrayed my fear.

"Your tragedy."

I was handed one of the cups then and Rebekah the other. I looked up into the eyes of the old woman and seemed to become entrenched into their mystifying depths.

"Drink." She commanded and we both did so, obediently and at the same time. I heard in the far off distance the woman whispering something as I consumed the sweet tasting liquid and when we both set the cups down a strange glow surrounded her.

"It is done." She said quietly, and walked away from us.

Rebekah simply grasped my hand and pulled us away from the woman and her weird smelling and small cottage, and back into the crisp morning air.

The sun was just peaking over the horizon as we drove away from the dark envelope of the woman and back to the town.

Soon Rebekah parked the car near a cobblestone street somewhere and looked over to me fondly. We were still in town and we exited the car to stroll beside one another along the broken down walk way. People had begun to wake up and it was the first time in days that I had seen humans other than the Mikaelsons.

"Listen, doll, I have to pick up a few things in this shop. Just stay here, will you? Don't go anywhere." I nodded at her words, gathering that she was opting with ignoring what had just happened. Fine with me, I wasn't even sure what to make of it let alone talk about it.

She quickly strolled into the small shop and I stood outside, my hands dug into the pockets of the borrowed jacket I was wearing.

I faced the statue turned fountain that was centered in the square. It was of a man, marble and elegantly done, and the carving looked so familiar to me but I couldn't quiet place it.

Suddenly someone moving very fast along the street collided with me, and I was knocked harshly into the ground in result of the sudden force.

I looked up into a pair of blue-ish green eyes that bore into mine, and they were very familiar, too. He held out his hand to me and I accepted it with as much grace still remaining, allowing him to help me up.

"Sorry about that, sweetheart." He said gruffly and his voice was something I knew once. Very vague though, and the thought of it being something I knew disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"That's okay….?" I trailed off in reference to his name and his briefly smiled. His teeth were perfect and white.

"Stefan." He answered and I nodded.

"Well, have a nice day, Stefan." He said and then strode quickly away from me. Seconds later Rebekah emerged from the shop, took my arm in hers, and we walked away.

How strange.

_-j-_

She hovered over the delicate pages, clutching them in her shaking hands. What she had done, what will happen was a far better thing than she has even considered performing before.

The girl that loved too easily, finally found a purpose within her life. She carefully set the papers down before her, not allowing her free falling tears to smear the ink.

The words blurred before her, anyway.

_To my dearest brothers,_

_I understand that you are angry with me. Don't be, it's pointless. Instead be reflective, and don't ruin yourselves any further. I did it of my own volition, knowing that the collision of such strong passions, love and hatred, would end with the untimely death of someone. It's really only fitting._

_Perhaps you will never truly understand why I chose this, but know that it was out of the kindness and love of my heart. You both were the best brothers a girl could ask for; sweet, protective, understanding, and for so many years that I am undeserving of another. When Elijah is awoken, show him this too. I want all of you to be reunited one day, and know that I will be there with you, in spirit._

_To Kol; find something that you truly care for. Don't let your immortality or power eat away the passion within you. Be it a person, lifestyle, or career. Make your years count. _

_To Nik; don't let your anger tear away what shapes the best of you. Don't ruin her, take her for granted, or forget her. Remain the man that I knew. You will find true happiness, I promise you that. _

_I love you both from the bottom of my heart._

_Forever and always,_

_Rebekah. _

.

_To Caroline,_

_Whether or not you actually end up reading this, I'm going to write it anyway. _

_I'm not actually sure of how it will all work out, but I know that you will be the happiest girl on the planet, eventually. _

_I know that you will blame yourself, for that is just your kind nature. Please don't. Know that within your tale I found my own, and myself. I have lived a pretty empty existence for way too many years and through your compassion and your humanity I was able to complete and rediscover my own. _

_Though in comparison to my brothers I've known you for but a second, you are truly the sister I never had, and always wanted. I have done what I have for you and this bond and irreplaceable moments that you have given me. Believe me, you are worthy of it._

_Remember what I said to you. He will require patience and time, but know that you two are the truest and best thing out there. Hold on to that, for there will be years where it will seem impossible and pointless._

_Also, please remember me. _

_Love, your sister,_

_Rebekah. _

She had thought for a moment about maybe writing a letter to the only other person on this earth that mattered to her, but considering how much it would rip her heart in to shreds she had decided against that particular self-torture.

Rebekah carefully dusted off her skirts and stood up from the desk.

It was truly a far better thing than she had ever done, and hopefully a better rest that she go to, than she had ever known.

**Author's Note:**

**Please tell me someone understood the reference near the end there. So underrated.**

**Whoa, so much to talk about. I'll try to keep it brief. Firstly I'd like to thank every single person who has been reviewing this story. They give me life, in complete honesty. **

**Secondly, I'm aware that this chapter is kind of late and very short and lacking in any Klaroline moments, but sorry! They can't all be riddled with smut and 5,000 words, unfortunately. This whole building on the plot thing needed to happen, however brief and non intimate.**

**So, I've officially introduced Tyler as a werewolf and we have good ole Matty Matt in there. Adore him, actually.**

**What has dearest Rebekah gone and done? YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND FIND OUT. **

**And, uh, what's going on with Elena?**

**And, uh, what's going on with this story? Jk, jk, after hours of editing I'm actually satisfied with this chapter. I hated it for a really long time.**

**More Stefan POV because I can't resist writing him all haunted and tortured by his blonde memories. So tragic. **

**I know I haven't mentioned how long this story will end up being, and yes I have every intention of finishing it. I'm not exactly sure but I'm guessing around thirteen chapters? Twelve? That might be way off. Regardless, the end is near. **

**Favorite moments? Least favorites? Nervous? Excited? Let me know what's going on inside your beautiful minds!**

**Love you all, so much. Truly, thank you for reading.**

**Best,**

**J.**


	10. Chapter X

_To my loving and loyal son-_

_Greetings. _

_It has been a long time coming for me to find your weak spot. Everyone has one, my son, so do not fret that you have failed in this way. Rest assured that you have in every other way, though._

_It is interesting though, for it to be a girl. Laughable, that your weakness is a girl. How pathetic. A human girl, in fact. Caroline Forbes, correct? Daughter of William "Bill" Forbes and Elizabeth "Liz" Forbes, both dead, and originating from Chicago. _

_Is that not where I last saw you, Niklaus? Perhaps I could have done us both a favor and finished her then. She's twenty one years old, blue eyes, blonde hair, 5'8", and loves the roses that litter your grounds. And she loves you, too, doesn't she? How unfortunate, how damning. Lovely Caroline isn't exactly innocent either, is she? I won't have to feel as bad when I kill her, then._

_I'm nothing if not thorough, and hell bent on destroying you and your lover, that is._

_But no, this timing is perfect. I am truly glad that you have had your first taste of love, so that I can rip it away from you. Which I will, because you are foolish as always, boy, and have left her human and in my clutches. _

_I will see you soon._

_-Mikael._

The letter didn't exist to see another second as it was crumpled in his rough hands, and thrown angrily into the raging fire before him. Every word of it caused a bloodbath to flash before his eyes, and his nerve endings were peaked.

He watched as the unrelenting flames licked up the sides of the cursed paper, the ink spilling and becoming one, swallowing it whole and vanquishing it to mere ashes.

He heard it as the rolling clouds outside burst and cackled with a goose bump inducing crack of thunder, and saw it as the world held still for a moment as it flashed bright white with unrestrained lightning. There was no rain, not yet.

His heightened vampire senses could smell the oncoming storm. It was the scent of just wet pavement, salty air, and unbridled passion bloating the air. Unavoidable. He was at the precipice, his whole life at the precipice.

He felt it as the power that he really only possessed at his darkest moments surged to his fingertips. This was the reason the world had rights to hold their fear of him. The animalistic side, feral, absolutely uncontrolled, brought to the very edge, to the surface. He was bred for control.

He could practically taste the blood of his enemies on his tongue, their anguish his glory. His father's blood. He wouldn't let anyone who ever threatened her live. He would win, he had to win.

He had never believed the whole 'seeing red' thing, but now as his vision blurred and the edges of his sight definitely took on a dark crimson tinge, he understood. It was because when this much anger, this much rage, is flowing through you, there has to be an outlet.

His father knew. His father knew of Caroline, and knew how he felt of her. He was suddenly transported back to when he was only a kid, and he felt incredibly weak for but a moment. How could he have let her crawl under his skin in such a way?

She was human, just a human. But it would kill him to change her, in any way. No, he would be able to protect her. He had to protect her.

And Klaus knew, without a doubt, that his blasted father was right. She was his weakness. There was no turning back. He would go to the ends of the earth for her, he would tackle any task that separated them. This fact should have scared him, but it didn't because it was not a revelation for him. He had known for quite some time now what she was to him.

And now, as he stretched his legs out languidly in the high backed chair facing his fireplace, she wasn't here. Rebekah had left a note saying they had gone out shopping and had brought guards, but his spine still tingled with anticipation and fear. Also anger, a good part anger.

He needed to see her, right now. He had woken that morning with a deep rooted desire to have her again, and she had already been gone. With the charred ashes now resembling the letter in his fire his lust was only heightened. And now he was a waiting lion, and incredibly restless.

It would have been less severe if his father's letter for him had not been sitting pliantly outside his door that morning. It set a rage he hadn't felt in a long time through his bones, through every fiber of his being.

Oh yes, he definitely needed to see her. And keep her locked up with him for the rest of eternity, at least until he found some way to destroy his father.

And then he might just keep her locked up still, for their own enjoyment.

_-j-_

My head was still spinning as we finally reached the driveway to the palace. I had no idea what to make of anything that had just occurred. I was still half convinced it had been a very strange and horrible dream. I felt like my whole mind was racing to catch up with my body, but at this point they were in two completely different places.

"Caroline?" Rebekah called and I turned to face her, realizing that she had been talking to me. The car came to a stop in the slab stone driveway. It was daytime, but the whole estate was still shrouded in darkness as the incoming storm clouds barred any possible light from coming down.

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell Klaus what happened. It's important that this stay a secret." She said urgently and I nodded my head in agreement. Klaus would probably send me to the doctor if I told him the whole wacked tale.

"Absolutely, Bekah. Is there anything you want to tell me?" I asked sincerely, and her eyes softened. The whole car ride she had been quiet and meditative and brooding, and, well, very un-Rebekah. I was even more concerned than I had been.

"Just, remember what I said." She said sweetly and then leaned forward to bestow a kiss on my forehead. When she pulled back there were tears brimming in both of our eyes, and I wasn't sure why. For some reason it felt like the goodbyes I was so used to giving. "Everything ends up okay for good people." Rebekah said cryptically, and I nodded as I pulled away.

We both exited the car, and excitement suddenly overran my confusion as the prospect of seeing him in mere seconds overtook my mind.

Last night had been, well, the most intense and exciting moment in my life thus far. I felt like something inside of me was burning, slowly and carnally. I wanted to have the epiphany of it being fueled and staved off again, and I wanted it bad.

And then, I just wanted to see him. My entire morning had been weird and unfamiliar and nerve-wracking, and I felt like my whole body was aching just to hear his voice. Everything about him soothed me and thrilled me at the same time.

I entered the palace with Rebekah nowhere to be seen anymore, most likely due to my lollygagging, and I was greeted by silence in the gigantic foyer. I had almost expected him to be waiting to greet me, but then I recalled that he wasn't exactly a man to wait. Or greet, for that matter.

My heels clicked lightly against the white marble flooring as I ascended the wide staircase. It was the only sound in the whole place. I pushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear nervously, and I wasn't too sure why.

I walked through the open door into my room, finding it empty and lacking a certain man. I slipped off my jacket and dropped it to the chair, exiting the room in disinterest. I walked back into the hallway, gazing around in search of him.

"Klaus?" I called, but was answered with silence. Curious.

I glanced left and the door that I had already frequented, that led to the drawing room with the captivating paintings, was wide open and flooded with light. I tiptoed forward and when I glanced in I was met with the sight of Klaus' back to me, his arm outstretched and spanning across a canvas with deep colors and vivid images.

I stepped inside, my heels once again the only sound resonating through the airy room. He kept his back to me, but after a moment he broke the silence, thankfully.

"Love." He said in acknowledgement, and turned around to face me. His eyes were blazing and fierce. My breath caught in my lungs with that look. I blinked once as he leaned against a nearby rustic-style, hardy looking table near him, folding his arms. It was a powerful stance that filled the room and nearly had me quaking.

"Hi." I answered, wanting to reach out to him but keeping my arms to myself. He looked incredibly tense. "I missed you." I said after another moment of heavy silence, because it was true. Just being in his presence relaxed my frazzled brain, despite his weird behavior.

"How was your trip to town?" He said darkly, and my eyebrows furrowed. He sounded angry, and I struggled to connect the dots.

"Fine." I spoke, and took a step towards him. I wanted to close the distance between us and he was making no moves anywhere close to me. "What's wrong?" I asked quietly as I reached out to him, my hands wrapping around his biceps. The muscles beneath my grip flexed in tension reflexively. He looked down at me with steely blue eyes that hid his feelings from me well.

"Nothing." His clenched jaw line still gave him away. I reached up with my hand and traced along his jaw, looking up to him gently.

"Klaus, tell me." I demanded softly. He was still staring down at me with a molten look that was intimidating but I gazed back at him unabashedly.

"It's just, …no. Rough morning." He said briefly and I only looked at him, silently willing him to continue. He dragged his hand across his face, avoiding my gaze now. "I don't want to talk about it." He finished shortly and then his lips were crashing down against mine.

I wasn't even capable of answering him or giving up complaint as his lips roughly coaxed mine into a seductive dance that I knew well by now, but was no less arousing and intoxicating from its familiarity. His kiss made me forget my sanity, let alone whatever had been bothering him. I reached my hands up to wrap around his neck, but suddenly his had captured mine and pulled them back to my sides. He kept them there with an iron grip around my wrists.

Klaus had me flipped around in the blink of an eye, not that mine were even opened at this point, so that it was me with my back to the table, and my backside dug uncomfortably into the surface from the pressure of his hips. I felt it in his kiss and his movements, he was angry. I didn't know what from, but it didn't hinder my body from erupting into flames at his violent and erratic passion.

No one but him had ever touched me like this.

He pulled my hands into a sharp lock behind my back, holding them there with one of his, so that with the other he could hitch the skirt of my hasty ensemble up and over my hips. I was in complete submission to his actions. His advances were very different than last night, and more reminiscent of the first time we kissed. Rough, frantic, but entirely alluring.

His growl vibrated through me as he lifted me up so that I was sitting on the table, my legs wrapped around his lithe waist. Somehow our lips were still connected. I felt his hard on for me. When he pulled back from my mouth which he had just so thoroughly conquered I took in with little surprise his black eyes and sharp fangs. I couldn't deny that it turned me on, the fact I had the capability to make him lose control electrocuting my nerves.

"Tell me if I hurt you." He spoke gruffly, his voice laced with unadulterated desire and the anger that I was sure was flooding his veins. I gave a jolted nod at his words, for his hands had begun to pull my flowing shirt up over my breasts.

Intoxicating touches were given to my taut peaks, just long enough to have me gasping. Klaus' pitch black eyes were on me the whole time as I fell apart under his hands.

After he had made sure I was complete putty, his capable hands drifted downward, in between the heat of my thighs. A moment later I heard a startling rip as he easily tore apart the lace of my panties, leaving me utterly bare to him.

He still had my hands held captive behind my back, and a wanton moan fell from my mouth as my already aching center was met with the rough touches of his hand. I was brought to the brink inhumanly fast, his years of experience obvious to me. I was then shoved brutally over the edge as he plunged a finger inside me, and I spasmed uncontrollably around it. His name fell from my open lips.

Another searing kiss was shared between our mouths, hot and messy, before I heard the clinking of his belt and then the button of his pants as he undressed himself with one hand. Our eyes met for a second, blue meeting black, and then he plunged into me without warning.

I cried out at the abrupt intrusion, but my quaking orgasm from earlier and the absolute desire I always felt around him had me catching up fast to his intense passion. He crushed us together and I was left in complete submission to his sharp thrusts.

It felt like we were the last two people on the earth, linked in the most intimate way as the world fell apart around us.

That same fire built up inside of me as his mouth moved along my collarbone, sucking harshly, and I gasped when I felt one of his fangs accidentally scrape against my skin. It left goose bumps as he pulled away to gaze at me.

It was an undercurrent that I was aware of, the bloodlust. He was a vampire, and there wasn't a doubt in my mind that he craved blood right now. Our gazes were still locked when I spoke.

"Yes." Was all I could manage to murmur as he was still buried inside me, and even with his vampire side revealed I could see the confusion and doubt in his stunningly handsome features. I couldn't believe what I had just said. But for some reason, I wanted him to. I wanted him to bite me, for him to own me in every way possible. He had every other part of me, why not this?

"Caroline…" He grated out as realization dawned on him. His hips were still rocking against mine, and I felt myself standing on the edge of the cliff. It would be the undoing of us both.

"Bite me." I murmured, and I wanted to touch him but my hands were still in captivity. He closed his eyes for a moment. "I love you, and I trust you. Do it." I whimpered as a particularly harsh thrust speared through me at my words.

Klaus finally released my wrists in favor of his hands digging through my hair. Seeing that I was unwavering in my demand, he leaned into my neck. My whole body was on fire as his lips brushed erotically along my neck before they settled right in the crook, only centimeters above my collarbone. I held onto him tightly as his fangs sank into me.

It was just not painful, but unfamiliar and entirely wanton. I could feel his groan as he marked me, and it pushed me fiercely off the cliff I had been desperately clinging to. His plunges became messy and erratic and only a couple of moments later he stilled after one final plunge and emptied himself into me.

I was gasping for air, my lungs not capable of keeping up with the passion that flooded my veins. He pulled away from my neck and his face rapidly transformed back into the oceanic blue front that I adored. All of the anger that had previously occupied them had ebbed and he blinked once in shock.

"Are you okay?" He asked, pushing my hair back to look at the wound. Two small puncture wounds marred my skin, marking me as his. They didn't hurt. I looked up at him, slightly dazed at what had just happened.

"Mhmm." I hummed, pulling him into my embrace. I didn't ever want to move from that position; Klaus holding me tightly against his body and every part one of our limbs interlinked.

"Caroline, I'm incapable of letting go." He said quietly and without abandon into my shoulder and I pulled away to look at him. Something was hidden in the depths of his eyes, and it looked strangely like fear. I smiled faintly.

"You don't have to."

_-j-_

It was later, after Klaus had carried me to his room and laid me down on his bed and then crawled in with me, that something happened in my mind. It was like a huge chasm in the inner workings of my brain had been slowly building to mend itself for a long time, and the edges were finally meeting.

My eyes widened in shock.

"Klaus." I said, turning towards him. He tightened his hold at the tumultuous look in my eyes. Fear washed steadily over me as the memories came flooding back. "I can remember, from that night." I whispered and his eyes widened in partial shock, partial fear.

"I, I was in the car with you. And then there was a… a vampire? You… you killed him, didn't you?" Klaus stayed silent, but nodded cautiously. His grip was now bruisingly tight on my hip. "And then we went back into the joint, and there was a man with Rebekah. She loved him. He… he was… Stefan?" I asked and then his face flashed through my memory. It was the man I had seen in town, the one that had run into me. My mind raced.

"Caroline." Klaus called and my gaze snapped back to his, for it had wondered towards the ceiling. He looked frighteningly worried.

"What did you do to Stefan?" I asked warily, now recalling how he had held Stefan's face, their gazes meeting, and then letting go a moment later after saying something that I couldn't hear. Rebekah had been screaming.

"I compelled him to forget us." He said darkly and cautiously all at once, obviously we were in unfamiliar territory. My eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah, Bekah explained that to me." I paused, searching for the end of the night, right before I had completely blacked out. He had been reaching out to me. "Klaus, were you going to compel me, too?" I asked in fear and his eyes flashed.

"Yes." He said, and pulled me closer into his warmth. I shuddered at the thought of not knowing him, of having my mind wiped. "Collateral damage, love, I'm so sorry." He murmured into my hair, and I nodded. I understood.

"Would you compel me now?" I asked, my voice slightly muffled by his shoulder. I felt him freeze up at my obviously unexpected question.

"No, absolutely not." He spoke passionately and I sighed in relief at the honesty in his voice. He then searched for my hand in the convers, fingering the bracelet that was still looped around my wrist. "Besides, I couldn't even if I wanted to. This bracelet has vervain in it." He said and I looked up at him.

"Thank you." I murmured and he smiled before pressing a gentle kiss to my lips. Our eyes were boring into one another's when he spoke again.

"When that vampire attacked you and hurt you so bad, that was the worst moment in my entire life thus far. I was paralyzed in fear for a moment, that I had lost you." I could tell this cost him a lot to tell me by the wavering in his normally calm voice.

"I hadn't known you for a day, and you were already the center of my universe. I held you the entire way here, to Italy, and I don't think I breathed again until the witches told me you were going to live." Klaus admitted quietly, and my heart thudded in response to his unbidden adoration.

"Don't ever do that to me again, okay?" He demanded and I nodded automatically. I didn't want that any more than he did.

"I won't."

_-j-_

His fingers rattled impatiently against the wood surface, his foot bouncing anxiously under it. Adrenaline was pumping at an almost uncomfortable rate in his veins. He felt the wolf in him roaring, roaring for spilled blood.

"Alright, Tyler. Do you understand the mission?" Mikael asked from above him, and he nodded automatically and without hesitation. He was subconsciously aware that he was actually on auto pilot, and that he didn't control his next words.

"My job is to take her." He said, his voice drone-like and flat, without any emotion. Mikael's smile was utterly chilling.

"When?"

"In the night." He answered quickly, his gaze locked with the older man's.

"And bring her where?" Mikael asked impatiently, leaning forward to look directly into Tyler's eyes.

"To you."

_-j-_

His now seemingly permanent frown deepened as he glanced down and saw that there was a hole in his shoe. When had he gotten that? It bothered him.

He looked ahead of their small group, deeper into the unrecognizable forest. Had he been here before? He wasn't sure. It was thickly wooded and vibrant with forest life, though none of that could be seen now in the darkness of night. How fitting. Matt walked sluggishly beside him, and no one had said a word for hours. He felt a hand suddenly clasp his shoulder and he turned to look into their leader's eyes.

"Stefan." The man spoke, and for the life of him he couldn't remember the man's name. Mark? Maxwell? He hadn't a clue, and his didn't particularly care to fix the matter.

"I'm so glad you are with us." The man said and Stefan nodded vaguely. A familiar feeling was overcoming him, the instinct that he was about to fuck something up. It wouldn't be the first time, so he made no move to correct it.

He hadn't seen his beautiful ghost in a while.

The man then moved on, to another member, and the group continued to move carefully through the woods. He had missed bloodshed and violence, and he knew that this excursion would bring this to him, in great volumes.

Matt suddenly stopped along the path, and looked at him with a strange glint in his eyes. Stefan paid him no mind as he kept walking. The boy wasn't his problem.

What a strange world.

_-j-_

Rebekah set the glass full of blood, freshly poured, down in front of her. She was impressed with herself that she had remembered to drink.

Everyone had always spoken of her ability to perceive events, and her intuition. She even knew it was strong herself. And right now every nerve ending in her body was completely wired with the awareness that the end was near.

Maybe Mikael was on his way. Or he was already here. Either way, his plan was going to come to fruition soon. It was eerie and exhilarating to know that she had finally bested her blasted father. Her plan was without fault, and would triumph. She had but only one regret.

Stefan.

She would miss him, invariably. Rebekah wasn't exactly sure what was waiting for her after, but she hoped for peace. She hoped that though she had lived centuries of being a royal demon and slaying more lives than she knew, that whatever was up there would have mercy on her poor soul and that she would finally know peace. Maybe her one good deed could save her.

Rebekah also hoped that her brothers would finally find peace as well. That with this final act of violence and vengeance that their lives would gain some normality, some happiness.

Ironically, she had searched her entire life for love and had found it in her family. In her brothers, in the sweet human Caroline. That maybe love wasn't just from a man, that it could come from her family. And from protecting it.

A smile graced her perfect lips as she stood up, lightening flashing through the windows as she did.

The storm was at their doorstep.

**Author's Note:**

**Happy Valentine's Day my scrumptious readers. I hope it was wonderful, and if not here's some Klaroline smut to make it all better. xx**

**Yay! New update! Sorry this kind of took me forever but it's here now. We have some lovely Klaroline moments in here, and Caroline getting her memories back, finally. Thoughts?**

**WHAT HAS REBEKAH DONE? Haha, literally the only question I have been asked these past couple of days. I can't spoil anything for you guys, but I promise you'll want to stick around for the answer.**

**And what is this dang storm this crazy lady keeps talking about? Maybe I don't even really know at this point, haha. **

**So Matt, Stefan, and Tyler are on the bad guys' team? What the heck? Let me know what you guys think of their POV's and also if anyone has been catching the recurring parallel with Stefan, let me know! I'll give you a cookie. xx.**

**AofH reached 5,000 views this week and even if this isn't considered a lot to everyone, it is to me. Actually, it's pretty mind-blowing and I just want to give the most sincere thanks to all of my beautiful readers. It means the absolute world. I never imagined I could come this far with a story or my writing, and it's all thanks to you guys.**

**Question: What has been your favorite chapter so far? I'm sooo curious so tell me, and why!**

**Another question: What do you like the best about this story? This is entirely for me to improve my plot and writing. Be honest! If it's smut, it's smut. Wink.**

**Thank you, as usual, for reading and please give me your honest reviews, I love them to death!**

**Best,**

**J.**


	11. Chapter XI

_Bink. Bink. Bink._

A strange and almost inaudible noise drew me from my comfortable slumber, and my eyes drifted open unwillingly. I was in my room, and the spot where Klaus belonged in the bed was empty.

I needed to be alone. That's what I said. It was true, mostly. But not because I wanted to be by myself, it was because I didn't want to be with him. My revelation of memories had buried an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was dark, and twisted, and made me incredibly fearful. I was so anxious, and I didn't want Klaus to know. He would just want to fix it, and maybe that's what I really needed, but right now I just wanted to steep myself in uncomfortable emotions.

Things were perfect with Klaus. I loved him, and I had admitted it to him. He loved me, and he had confessed it to me. He was perfect, and I felt impossibly whole.

_Bink. _

The noise sounded again, and I glanced over towards one of the windows in my room. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere near there. I pushed the covers off and my feet were met with the cool marble of the floor as I softly padded over to the huge bay window, now reflecting the colors of a stormy early morning. It had poured last night.

Looking out, I could see the endless blue ocean and how the waves crashed violently. I glanced down and took in the gardens that I had walked with Kol. The millions of roses still littered the premises, and I sighed at their beauty.

I only had a chance to hear an opening creak of the closet door beside me before someone shoved their hand over my mouth, silencing my incoming cry. His arm wrapped tightly, too tightly, around my waist and he hauled my body up so that my feet were no longer touching the ground.

For the briefest of moments I thought that it was Klaus. Maybe it was a game. But as the person tied a blindfold over my eyes, shutting me in darkness, I knew that it wasn't. Fear struck through my veins and I struggled violently against my oppressor. I managed to loosen his grip and I tumbled to the floor, crawling as fast as I could towards the door, towards Klaus.

"Not so fast, _sweetheart._" The man whispered menacingly, so quietly but so dangerously, pulling me by the leg back towards him, muffling my scream once again as I was dragged roughly along the floor.

His voice, I knew his voice. It was _Tyler. _Tears sprung to my eyes. What the hell was happening? I scratched violently against the arm that was now wrapped around my waist, but he merely reached forward and tied my hands together behind my back.

My efforts were futile as Tyler wrenched me back upwards, now throwing me over his shoulder. I still couldn't see anything and adrenaline was pumping so fast through my hyperactive body that I was sure I would pass out from the pressure. I thrashed in fear despite his iron grip as I felt him walk forward, and heard the window being opened.

Cool air breezed gently in, goose bumps rising against my bare skin. Tyler reached forward and pulled down the fabric that covered my eyes so that it now wrapped around my mouth, effectively silencing me in place of his hand. I looked up at him, finding his eyes the same deep brown but now they were laced with hatred. How could he be doing this to me? What happened?

"Goodnight, Caroline." He whispered so quietly, and I realized now that it was so none of the deadly vampires in the house could hear him. Namely Klaus. _Oh._ Klaus. Just thinking that he was only a corridor away from me made fresh tears spring to my eyes.

Tyler reached forward with some kind of needle in his hand, and I glanced to it fearfully, trying my very best to wrestle myself from his grip. He had a tight hold on my arm though, and I never knew him to be so strong as the needle pierced my skin.

My closing thoughts as frightening darkness found me and I slowly lost feeling of my extremities were of course of him. I could almost see him in front of me, piercing blue eyes, sandy curls, comforting embrace. I wanted nothing more than to run, run as fast as I could and back towards him, but I no longer had control of myself and my vision slipped from me. His name fell from my mouth uselessly as blackness surrounded me.

"_Klaus._"

_-j-_

My eyes burned to see something and their lids slowly eased open to the blinding light I was faced with. My head lolled from side to side as I struggled to take in my surroundings. Whatever I had been injected with hadn't quite worn off yet as my vision was blurred on the edges and had an eerie cast to it. I was able to take in the room, though.

The walls were white, the floor was white, and the bright light shining in my face glowed an annoying _white_. There were no windows, no decorations, no fixtures, just me and the blinding light in a room for I don't know how long.

My eyes zeroed in on the door before me I as became more aware of myself. It looked to be heavy, of a prison-like cement door with no way of opening it. Just a heavy slab of imprisonment. I glanced down to see that my arms were pulled behind me and tied snugly and my legs were securely fastened to the chair I was sitting on by some cable ties. My head still felt fuzzy.

My eyes squinted as more light filled the window-less room when the door was opened and then firmly shut as someone walked into the room. I took in the figure slowly and cautiously. Sloppy blonde hair, basic build, firm footing, average clothing. When I looked up into the cold and unforgiving eyes I recognized the trustworthy and earnest blue to be those of Matt's.

What was with me and deceivingly trustworthy eyes?

Shock rolled through me as the first person from home regarded me shrewdly. We just stared at one another for a moment, but his eyes didn't quite meet mine. I wanted to give him a hug, to ask a million questions, to joke and to laugh. But our predicament and his eyes stopped those thoughts in their barren tracks.

My eyes followed him across the distance between us, noticing that he was holding a tray of bland looking food out to me. Nevertheless my stomach growled at the sight of it. How long had it been since I had eaten? I looked around us, trying to find the danger that I felt creeping up on me.

"Matt." My voice croaked from disuse and my screams from the night I was captured. I had no idea how long I had been out. It felt like ages. How annoyingly familiar. His eyes shot down to me, for they hadn't looked in my direction the entire time he had been in the room. I watched as they struggled to make the connection of who I was, what he was doing. I also watched as the fight dimmed, quickly replaced by decisive hatred, and he walked around me to untie my hands.

It was familiar, that look. I felt like I should know what was happening, but my brain was so foggy and my emotions so staggering that it hurt to think too hard.

"You have five minutes to eat." He spoke, and his voice brought back now bittersweet thoughts of home. Of Elena. Of Tyler. Of him. Tyler was the one who had captured me, and now here Matt was, Elena's friend, untying my hands so that I could _eat. _What happened? My mind raced dully.

I rubbed my fingers against the marks on my wrists, a sour taste building in my mouth. I had bitten my tongue. I swallowed my blood before picking up the fork on the tray before me and shakily brought a piece of food to my dry mouth. Matt watched coldly and in disinterest.

My eyes sparked with sudden tears as I realized that this was what I had wanted. I had wanted Tyler and Elena and Matt to be here in the paradise that was Italy to me. And now here Tyler and Matt were, and they didn't know who I was and they were my captors. Some kind of sick fucker had come up with my life, I realized. To escape a crack addict mom only to become a con artist. To find a perfect guy only for him to be a vampire. To claim the most comforting home only to have to leave it. To have it all, and then to have nothing.

None of it made sense and my heart ached as tears scored unwarranted down my face.

I was alone, and that scared me the most.

_-j-_

His eyes flickered back and forth across the room, trying to catch where it had all gone wrong.

Nothing was out of place. It looked as if she had simply gotten out of bed to get a glass of water, only the sheets being pushed back a sign that someone had been here. Not even the window was open. No furniture knocked over, no rug out of place, no window left open.

Either her captor had done a fine job of cleaning up the mess or they had killed her before taking her.

Kol had the unfortunate duty of informing Klaus of what had happened. It was still in the early hours of the morning, and Caroline had disappeared from her room not two hours ago. Every one of the bodyguards that had been surrounding and protecting the palace had been decapitated, their bodies strewn comically along the grounds. Kol had searched the palace top to bottom with several fresh guards in search of her, but she was gone.

He strode away from her room and towards his. He hadn't had the gall to tell Klaus yet, and, given the time, his brother was still sleeping.

He had liked her, the human. Caroline was sweet and innocent and everything good in humanity but she was also fiery and strong and interesting and everything good in Kol's eyes. And she was perfect for his eternally lonely brother, and now she was _gone. _

There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Klaus loved that girl. Not even he deserved this. The wrath he was about to face as he inched Klaus' door open nearly stopped him from the action. He pushed it open anyway.

"Klaus." He said loudly and he watched as his brother's eyes slid open almost immediately. Concern and annoyance emanated clearly from them, as it was not usual for Kol to wake his brother, especially in these hours of the morning.

"I have something to tell you." Kol said uncertainly as Klaus sat up from his bed, standing quickly. It didn't even look like he had been sleeping moments ago. Klaus' eyebrows raised for him to continue.

Kol braced himself for the inevitable and unparalleled fury he was going to meet after his next words. He sent up a quick prayer to a god he didn't believe in.

"Caroline is gone."

_-j-_

The door was inching open again and I watched in mild curiosity as another man stepped into my prison. I liked to call it that, my prison. As if I had some kind of ownership in my life. As there was no windows nor a clock in the room, I had no perception of time in my reduced world. Maybe hours had passed since Matt had left me in a wake of confusion and despair, maybe days. I didn't know.

My emotions had dulled since then, though. I barely felt the fear that I should as a menacing man stepped closer to me, and then grabbed a chair and sat down. I didn't feel embarrassment as he assessed me, still in my stupid flimsy night gown (goddammit, screw this piece of clothing). I didn't feel apprehension as to why he was here, who he was. And when he spoke I wasn't even shocked to hear _the_ accent.

"Caroline." Was all he said, and I glanced over to him. He had an aged look about him, and his eyes were deep and calculating. He looked like he could be of the royal family. His eyes a familiar and unfamiliar blue all at the same time. He was dressed in a suit of dark colors, and I knew that it was expensive by the way it fell. "My name is Mikael." I said nothing in response.

"Does this not mean anything to you, girl?" He questioned and now anger sharpened his voice. Fear was still absent from me. I shrugged in response and at his widened eyes and furrowed brow I then shook my head.

"Mm. He never really bothered to even try protecting you, did he? But then, that's to be expected." Mikael sighed and I watched intently as he leaned forward in his chair, our eyes locked intensely. It was a strange gaze that he had. Not from this world, that's for sure.

"I am Mikael, the father of your Niklaus."

I felt something then, I felt the tiny little crack in my heart that those words made.

I didn't want to think about him, and so far I had been successful. I had put that part of me, the majority of me, the part that he owned, on auto pilot. If I thought about that I would most certainly burst into tears and not be able to stop. This was no place for that, I didn't even know where this place was and I knew that. Crying was a thing you did at home and I didn't even know where that was anymore. But his name, and now the presence of his father, was all it took to awaken that particular beast. Mikael must have seen the hurt, the anger, the love in my eyes for he chuckled mercilessly.

"Ah, yes. How surprising for you, mm? To find that your lover's father is even more damned than him." My heart thudded. Why me?

"Why am I here?" I finally spoke, anything to get him to stop saying lover. It really hurt, more so than it rightfully should. I didn't want to think about where he was right now, what he was doing, if he was thinking of me, if he even knew I was gone.

When I left the orphanage it had taken them four weeks to put out a missing person notification to the police.

Would it take him that long? God, I hoped it wouldn't. He would know. I trusted him, I loved him. He trusted me, he loved me.

Didn't he?

"You're my little piece of cheese, sweetheart. Niklaus being the mouse, most obviously." I shuddered to think of anyone picturing Klaus as a mouse. More lion. And he was a mouse in this man's eyes. What did that make Mikael?

"What do you want?"

"That part is fairly simple, dearest Caroline. I want to eradicate my children from this earth." At this point my eyebrows only raised fractionally at his statement and he smiled at my reaction. "You're what I have been waiting for for far too long. My bastard son's weakness, at last. And so very pretty." His smile was full of twisted mirth and cut into my skin like knives. I ignored his comment and cast my gaze away, so he spoke again.

"And I have amassed a special group of people to help me do it." He continued, now leaning back in his chair and observing me as a small bug. I felt puny, I was puny. "You've already seen your former employer and as I take it good friend, Tyler. The werewolf. What a little firecracker he is." I didn't have it in me to gasp at the revelation that my friend was a werewolf. At this point anything could happen and I would be able to shrug it off.

"And dear sweet Matt, with the most honorable of intentions. Trying to get the money any way he can to help dear sweet Elena. Which, as I've found out, is your very best friend. Isn't she, Caroline?" If I had an organ worthy of being called a heart it would have shattered then. _Elena. _She was involved. What had I _done_?

It was my fault.

"Elena?" I questioned and his smile grew into that of a Cheshire cat that wanted to play with its food before eating. I had a bad feeling he was doing just that.

"Yes, Elena. Come down with quite a sickness in your absence, she has. Right on the same doorstep that you are, I'm afraid." I didn't event take in the not so subtle threat. Elena was sick? She was dying? What had I _done_?

"But of course the final puzzle piece is that character Stefan. I rather enjoy him. Gloomy chap. On the night you had the misfortune of meeting my son, did you also meet Stefan, Caroline? He was there." I nodded at his question. Poor Rebekah, poor me. I wanted to escape, but I was trapped under his gaze. He was leaning forward again.

"You see Caroline, I'm smarter than you'll ever be, I'm older than you'll ever be and I have every kink worked out in this plan. Everyone will meet their fate when Niklaus comes on his white horse for you and there isn't a thing anyone can do to stop it." I wanted to mock his evil villain speech, but it hurt me too much to think about mocking it.

"You look like you're having a hard time of it, Caroline. Is something wrong?" Mikael asked pettily and I looked up at him, ready to spit in the face of the now demon in my world. It felt like everything had crashed down on me at the very pinnacle of my life. And I was alone despite it all.

I closed my eyes, shutting out the laughing man before me and the bright lights above. How simple would it be if I could just disappear? Go back into dreamland that I had occupied so many times before. I wanted this to stop, I wanted Elena to be better, I wanted Tyler and Matt to be themselves, I wanted Klaus.

It suddenly hit me what I could answer to this man, something to fight back. I had always been told that I had a great voice. A damning one. I eased my eyes back open to look at him again. Mikael's eye really were the most piercing of calculating blues. Slate mixed with the cold depths of the ocean. He was still smiling until I opened my mouth.

"You're forgetting something. Klaus always wins."

_-j-_

His mind hadn't been this focused in a long time. It was as if every facet of the image of the world before him was drawn in the highest of quality; every edge sharpened and every color electrified. Adrenaline pumped through his useless veins faster and faster as the seconds drove on and he could feel the relentless tremble in his body.

The terrible _anger _for which he was so renowned.

He had thought at this age that he had felt everything there was to feel; sadness, loneliness, passion, love, anger, jealousy.

But he had never known a fury this intense, this consuming, this fiery. It was as though every ending in his body was constantly firing, electrocuting him into action.

He was aware of every second passing as he gathered his army in the shortest of minutes, as he devised his plan, as he prepared to meet his maker for the very last time.

Klaus refused to think of her. It would stop him in his tracks if he thought of the actual gravity, the magnitude of the situation. She might be his weakness so in this moment he had to spin that. No, he focused on his anger instead. He was good at that. He could do that.

What he couldn't do was think of the possibilities, the chances, fate.

He would win. He always won.

_-j-_

She watched in an almost eerie calm as her brothers so meticulously planned their attack, for her. The sweetest girl there ever was. Only she knew the real outcome and it was almost gratifying to have finally bested her older brothers. Almost.

"Rebekah, call our friends in Rome and have them come down. Tell them of our situation." Kol called from where he was standing in the parlor and she nodded in agreement. Let them build their army and believe in their cause, it was all pointless. No number of vampires and werewolves and witches could best their father.

But she could.

Their conversations remained garbled and indistinct for the most part and she watched as they both flitted about in a frenzy of action that she admired. Her eyes followed person after person arrive and Klaus bark directions every which way.

It had almost hurt her when she saw Klaus after he had found out from Kol of Caroline's disappearance. So blindsided, so hurt, so angry. It was all in his eyes that she had known for so long. Normally an endless blue but that had looked so incredibly human and vulnerable when he had walked down the stairs. It was how she imagined Stefan would have looked if he hadn't been compelled when she left.

That look spoke novels of how the little human girl had dug under his skin and set up camp in the heart he had claimed not to have for so many centuries. It was of course why Rebekah was doing this, why she had chosen them. It was the only thing she truly wanted to fight for, their story. Hers would finish through theirs.

Her life had been in no way shape or form perfect. But in that moment, sitting in the parlor with her brothers at her side and they were all united for a common goal, a righteous one, love, it was pretty damn near perfect.

A smile graced her perfect mouth as she heard the crowd of supporters at their door.

_-j-_

Elena was fading, she knew that. It felt as though every part of her body was giving up on her slowly and surely. Like life was being pulled from her, but it in such a way she was grieving it even before it was gone.

They had arrived in Italy a couple of days ago. She wasn't sure of time parameters anymore. Italy, where Matt said there were doctors that could help her, that would fix her. Make it all better. Tyler was there too, she wasn't sure why. He reminded her of Caroline, and she didn't like that.

There was also another guy with them. She had only seen him once, and he had given her the strangest of looks when he had seen her. It was a look she hadn't ever received before. The guy was haunted, that's for sure. His eyes sunken in and cheeks without color and lips ghosty white. She could tell he was actually fairly attractive, but something had torn that from him.

It was odd though, where they were. She was aware the she wasn't in her best mind, but she felt as though there was something else happening. Like each day as she faded, something else rose.

Also, whenever she had thought of Italy previously it had been all of white beaches and flowing canals and sunny skies and friendly people. The minute they had arrived they were met with crashing waves and violent rivers and angry clouds and strange people.

"Elena, hey. How are you feeling?" Matt asked as he walked into her room, sitting carefully on the bed she was securely tucked into. She looked into her friend's eyes, such a trustworthy blue, and smiled. There was something off about Matt too. Maybe it was Italy, maybe Italy did strange things to people.

"I'm doing okay."

Nothing was really turning out how it was supposed to.

_-j-_

Stefan was ending, he knew that. It had been weeks before he had drank from someone. It was as though every limb he had once held claim to was slowly quitting on him. Life was being yanked away from his grip but in such a way that he was wishing for the end before it had even neared.

He had though that the violence of the excursion would fuel him, bring him some kind of fire. Those kinds of things usually did. It hadn't, though. He was still empty. It seemed as though nothing was turning out how it was supposed to anymore.

Stefan almost missed his little ghost.

He had thought about finding his brother. Maybe that's what he needed, some familiarity. But he had no idea where Damon even was in the world right now, and he was quite positive that where ever it was Damon was sitting there hating him.

Maybe familiarity wasn't what he needed.

There was a girl with them. The reason that sweety Matt had come in the first place. She shouldn't be here. Stefan should save that girl. She was sick with something stupid that his blood could heal but he couldn't even bring himself to offer that. He was half a man.

Elena. That was the girl's name. She looked like Katherine, a lot like Katherine. They could be twins. Was it twisted of him to say that he liked it? The girl was beautiful, but she was dying, and so was Stefan. So fitting.

He passed by the door that lead to the girl that they had captured. She was beautiful, too. And she was familiar, too. He knew that he had known her but maybe it was from too many lifetimes ago to matter.

He really did miss his ghost.

_-j-_

Theirs would be a story told through the centuries, long after the listeners knew the names, long after their pain was actually felt, long after their love actually mattered.

Caroline and Klaus, Klaus and Caroline. Only together for the shortest of times, but forever in their hearts. Inseparable, except in the end. Opposites, but so similar in the end. Lovers, but fighters in the end.

Damned in the end.

It's an awful thing how the world really fucks with you, isn't it?

**Author's Note:**

**Please please please no one slaughter me for it being so long since I updated. My life has been actually crazy lately with school and work and an annoying cold and annoying friends and such things that will only bore you guys.**

**WHAT DO YOU THINK.**

**I'm not sure how to feel about this chapter. I think I like it. I had to get it up for you guys. Very important scenes packed in here, let me know of all your twisted opinions.**

**I'm thinking this story is going to round out right around fifteen chapters, seeing as this is the eleventh and we're nearing our climax.**

**As always, review, review, review. **

**Love you all to the ends of the earth.**

**Best,**

**J.**


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